Kouyou Sentai Soulranger
by Star AJT 84
Summary: For many years, souls have started growing corrupt everywhere from innocent little children to entire planets. Four quarreling people from Odaiba have been chosen to combat and purify the souls as well as represting the four elements.
1. The Four Chosen

**Kouyou Sentai Soulranger**

**(Elemental Squadron Soulranger)**

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Vessel 1: The Four Chosen

———————

It is the year 2018 on the planet of Earth; the world has been the same as usual as it's always been, but most of the higher technology has been given out to the higher class or the more important groups and while the stronger side, the side of nature and animals, endured and gained characteristics that are being analyzed. Everywhere are souls in someone, strong souls, but there are also those who are not strong and can be corrupted by evil.

———————

While on a space expedition from Earth to Mars…

The Terran spacecraft called the Comet Flash 9, which mostly looks like an arrowhead-shaped space shuttle, makes a moderate landing on the red planet. Astronauts roam the rust-covered surface to be proud to be walking on Mars.

Of course, they were not alone… a mysterious warrior-like figure in hellish violet armor (with a touch of black-and-crimson) stood just a few feet away from the shuttle. His armor is designed for battle and appears to be fit to be worn by the devil. His face is hidden behind a pitch-black visor in the shape of a demon's mouth (which is full of fangs).

Lured by a strange radiance, the ground-walking members of the crew sped off to find out what it is. The hellish-looking warrior stood there, observing whatever the astronauts were about to do, but not doing anything else about it except for watching them.

The mysterious radiance came from a glowing blue gem on what appeared to be an alien grave marker, hypnotized by its beautiful glow… the astronauts placed their hands onto it without thinking twice. The gem lost its glow and beneath it was a secret compartment and inside it was a deck of mysterious dark violet colored cards.

A voice from inside their heads said to them, "After unleashing that, you have just given me some extra competition." Spooked yet if not awoken from the trance, the astronauts looked around for the one who said that. The cards flew off and surrounded the astronauts and the grave in a tornado of wind filled chockfull of them, clearing away the rust on the surface.

Before the 'tombstone' revealed to be an even larger secret compartment, it opened up to reveal the body of a young-looking woman with long flowing black hair and an aura of darkness over her blue robes which cover most of her black metal armor, which is almost scantily cladding her well-figured and highly appealing body. Standing less than 6 feet high but a little over 5 feet, she has a face more sexy than beautiful. She opens her dark red eyes at the astronauts caught in the card tornado and sinisterly smiles.

From afar, close to the Comet Flash 9, which is also caught in the card tornado, the hellish-armored warrior said with the same mysterious voice, which belonged to him in the first place, "So… it has begun."

———————

In the city of Odaiba, in Japan, in a luxurious hotel… a 19-year-old beauty is sleeping, waiting for a meal that she ordered to be delivered. Her name is Umishuuha Meiru. Unlike a lot of Japanese women in the country, she has been gifted with beauty since she was young. She worked on herself to be her fullest as possible, the results are her having a healthy and strong body combined with her radiance. Of course, ever since Meiru was young, her mother asked her to find a man to find romance with for time to time. But the result to that was poor Meiru developing a tendency to fall for every attractive guy she lays her eyes on. Of course, it usually happens when she gazes on one she hasn't met before.

Meiru was woken up from her nap by some friendly hands, "Hey, Aneki!" Meiru opens her brown eyes to her young friend and smiles a little, "I'm up, Yuri-chan. What is it?" Yuri tells her, "Your lunch has arrived." Meiru groans, "Oh darn… I've missed yet another deliveryman. Did you pay him for it?" Yuri bows in apology, "Sorry, I've used your money." Meiru sighs, "Don't trouble yourself, I would've done that by myself. Thanks for doing it though."

The 16-year-old yet intelligibly gifted Soyokaze Yuri has been best of friends with Meiru since high school, although Yuri hasn't been around as long as Meiru has; she has always been in the same grade as she was since she's a young genius. She was born in a struggling family as one of 18 siblings. She has been considered an oddball in her family and to most of the public; since she absolutely loves anything under the sci-fi genre and will do anything to recreate them to them into scientific facts, she is also almost never seen without a white lab coat over her normal clothes everywhere she goes, including to the mall. Another odd fact about her is that she never seems to lose her smile.

They help each other: since Meiru has a job as a chiropractor and masseur, she gets paid well so she can share some of her money with Yuri and her family and Yuri, in return, helps Meiru with her college work.

———————

In a certain construction site up north of the island, 23-year-old Yamahouku Iwamaru shovels away some excess dirt and rocks. Iwamaru is a muscular fellow who comes from a very wealthy family with an empire, but what they don't know about him is that he prefers physically hard work over paperwork since he's also a businessman (his father's idea).

While working, he listened to the news on the radio close to him. The news reporter said through it, "This could be the biggest space disaster since 1992; the Comet Flash 9, the first successful Earth-Mars landing craft has just been reported to be caught in a mysterious red and white cyclone within some unusual Martian storm. And _this_ just in, a young man is climbing a _very_ tall building in the southern vicinity of Odaiba for some unknown reason. Despite the crowd, he's just climbing higher and higher!"

Iwamaru scoffs, "Well, another idiot gone for the count."

———————

Back in Meiru and Yuri's hotel, they were watching the news on television, which Yuri is practically toying with. Yuri says, "Even if idiots did float up high in the sky like smoke, they'd have to be some type of bird, not a human." Meiru said, "That's just an expression, hopefully a rescue team will be on their way to pick him up once he's realized his reckless mistake."

From what the screen could make out, the young man is dressed in a pair of blue jeans, white sneakers, a white-and-red jacket (emblazoned with an eagle symbol), and sports a long tail jet-black hair from his head. He turned his head to face to the camera, his face shows a little bit of fear but also a sense duty and determination at first, he then bravely smiled and waved, "Good morning, Japan. This is Rosuto Li, deliveryman from Sonic Bird Express, at work!" then continued on!

Meiru and Yuri both knew Li well! "HUH?"

———————

As does Iwamaru, "What the hell? I wanted to put _that_ idiot out of his misery first! Damn you, fate!" then he storms off to the same building Li was at.

———————

Yuri was amazed, "Where on Earth did he get the permission and the equipment to do what he's doing? And why?" Meiru growls, "Damn it! That jerk is going to pay dearly for scaring everybody!" Yuri turns the TV off and says, "Let's go and find out what's up."

———————

The whole reason Li was climbing in the first place was because he, among other people, saw something mysterious fall from the sky and hit the top of a building! He succeeded into getting up to the top then he went into searching for the mysterious object.

Down below on the streets… Meiru, Yuri, and Iwamaru showed up to the building in the area that Li probably climbed!

Li found the mysterious object, from his point of view it looks like the point of a golden sword's blade broken off. He felt it with his hand, noticing that no more heat was emanating from it. He took out a red neckerchief from his jacket pocket and wrapped it up before pocketing it. He went to the edge of the building and called out to the audience below, "I'm coming down now, by taking the stairs!"

——————

As he came out the doors of the building, people were crowding him and he presented what he's found and explained what he knows about it so far. An astounded scientist, who was in that crowd, looked at the object Li found with interest. But Yuri carefully snatched it away saying, "This object will be under my studies, Li-sempai." Li shrugs, "Just be careful with it, Yuri-kohai."

Meiru and Iwamaru showed up to them, Iwamaru stayed at least 6 paces away from the women, including Meiru and Yuri, since he's never been close to a female before; when he was younger he was slim and short and girls (excluding his mother) made fun of him; as he trained day by day he became stronger but incredibly shy of the opposite sex still.

Meiru pulled Yuri away from Li. When they were little, Li used to make fun of her a lot. She didn't take the bratty jokes too well. So she looks at him like he was an enemy whenever he's in her sight. How come Yuri sees Li differently she'll never know. The longest time she hasn't seen him is the past 7 and a half years since she was at an all-girls' school.

Meiru starts the scolding, "What kind of moron are you, Li?" Li calmly states to her, "A moron who couldn't get past a thick crowd and decided to try the old-fashioned 'climb-the-modern-building' to stop the commotion down below." Iwamaru exclaimed, "_That's_ what was going on about and why you didn't go inside? Why not let the police take a good look at it?"

Yuri came into the argument and said, "They just did. They told me that they asked Li to bring back anything he'd find for them since he's the best and most reliable deliveryman from Sonic Bird Express as they took the unidentified object from me." Iwamaru and Meiru looked at Yuri in confusion, "Eh?" Li presented the gear he used to scale the building: actual property of the police force. Li handed them to the nearest police officer walking by.

Then the three looked at Li, who answered, "Hey, I was generally asked by the police to bring them crime files and evidence that need to arrive to them on the double, so they sent me since the other people were too scared. But believe me, I was scared myself."

Iwamaru just socked Li in the face, but he didn't make a response to it. The police wanted to stop him, but Li said, "Leave him alone; I've deserved that punch." The officer who was about to arrest Iwamaru asks Li, "But why?" Li replies, "I used to make fun of him… when we were little."

Li pulls out a mobile phone and flips it open to look into the small screen, "No more assigned deliveries for now." Iwamaru prepared himself for an attack, but Li got onto his white motorbike with a red box on the back (for carrying what he deliveries) and waved the three people who knew him in the past later before zooming off. What he left behind was a stumped Iwamaru, Meiru with her mouth hanging open, and Yuri looking at the police strangely.

———————

Li stopped by the delivery department, just to see if he could pick up some extra deliveries before the day is out. His boss, a kind elderly man in his early 60s, kindly shook his head in response to Li's actions——

He said to the young worker, "Look at you; a wonderful young man and you chose the life of a deliverer that's putting his own fellow workers out of work. You should at least find a hobby to slow down a bit." Li asks, "Well… what did you do?" Li's boss, whose name is Tsuyoshi Kurenai, sighs, "Back in 1975, I was a big supporter of the legendary Super Sentai." Li went confused, "You worked for one of them?" Tsuyoshi laughs a bit, "No, I was a fan who believed in them."

Li gets up and walks out. Tsuyoshi asks him, before he could get out completely, "Li? Didn't your stepfather get the news yet?" Li said, "I haven't told him my side of the story," then sighs before finishing, "or anyone else for that matter." Tsuyoshi asks, "Been up again? Stopping his crimes?" Li sighs, "Yeah, he's absolutely pathetic compared to me… yet the police aren't able to catch him." Finally, Li left for home.

Tsuyoshi sighs in his current solitude, "Because he paid them… and that you're too good for him." He laid back a bit and asks, "When will your path come clear?"

——————

As Li got home… his own hotel, the southernmost hotel in Odaiba, his flat wasn't as messy as one would expect… in fact, his place is as clean as heck; he saves up a lot so that he could travel the world. He's been depressed since he found out some facts about himself that he didn't know about since he was little.

Before hitting the sack, he looks up to the sky and says, "Please… give me an answer."

——————

In that night, two mysterious lights, a black one with a blue aura and a white one with a red aura, flashed across the sky and coming downwards while clashing with each other. As they hit the streets… the lights turned into two separate human-like beings——

The blue aura-covered black light turned into the woman who was uncovered on Mars. The red aura-covered white light turned into a young-looking man with long flowing white hair and an aura of light over his white robes which cover most of his gleaming white metal full-body armor, clad to his strong and muscular body. Standing a little over 6 feet high, he has a face more striking than handsome. He opens his pale if not bright blue eyes at the young woman and growls lightly.

The mysterious woman said, "Go ahead; imprison me once more, Vaal." The mysterious young man, Vaal, didn't respond in words, he charged in at the woman and lashed out a silvery sword at her. The woman scoffs as she dodges the blade effortlessly, "What's holding you back, old-timer? You're usually a sword master, but now you're so predictable."

Vaal held up a sword-free left hand at her, but nothing happened. He was hesitating… he dropped it and said, "I can't, Keia." The woman, Keia, thrusts out a hand holding a card, creating a force powerful enough to send Vaal flying towards the horizon!

But from his, she spotted six colored lights zooming away from Vaal's body as he disappears! She sighs, "Oh darn it… I've almost had whatever was in that pouch on his belt too."

——————

The four lights individually went into Li, Iwamaru, Yuri, and Meiru's bodies respectively.

In Li's dreams, he saw many red-colored animals emerging from a sun-like object in front of him pass him by! He looked behind him and saw them all explode and the fragments jabbed themselves right into his body!

In Iwamaru's dreams, he saw many green-colored animals emerging from a forest beneath him and pass by him upwards! He looked above him and saw them all explode and the fragments jabbed themselves right into his body!

In Yuri's dreams, she saw many yellow-colored animals emerging from a storm above her fall past her! She looked below him and saw them all explode and the fragments jabbed themselves right into her body!

In Meiru's dreams, she saw many blue-colored animals emerging from an ocean around her! She nervously looked behind her as quickly as possible and saw them all explode and the fragments jabbed themselves right into her body!

Outside of their dreams, single triangular marks appeared on their bodies each.

——————

Li woke up and looked into his mobile phone schedule, nothing at all assigned to him, except a letter noting that the moviemakers would really like him to be one of their stuntmen or an actor and a letter from Tsuyoshi that he should probably take the next two days off until further notice.

Li walked out to at least enjoy the day-off as much as he could. Then he witnesses the girls; Meiru and Yuri, also enjoying their time at Tokyo Beach in Odaiba, apparently both of them are having a day-off too. Meiru is in a blue two-piece bikini and Yuri is in a yellow one, both of them are playing with a rainbow-colored beach ball that appears to be 4 feet in diameter.

Li thinks to himself, "_Meiru looks _drop-dead_ gorgeous in a bikini_."

Meiru froze in her spot, just for long enough to have the ball bounce off her head! Yuri said to her, "Hey, Aneki! It was your turn to hit the ball! What's wrong?" Meiru said, "I don't know, but it sounded like someone like Rosuto saying that I look great in this."

Li froze in surprise, Meiru just heard his thoughts as if they were out loud and he was right next to her!

Meiru thought to herself, "_There's absolutely no way he could possibly sound that kind and be _that_ interested in me! First those blue exploding animals emerging from the sea in my dreams and now this!_" Yuri gasps in surprise, "You too?" Meiru looks at her friend skeptically, "Eh? You too?" Yuri said, "Except the ones in my dream were yellow and came from a storm above me."

Li gulps, "Did Meiru, Yuri, and I become psychic?" Then he heard Iwamaru's voice, "What are you doing here, you bastard?" Li turns to face Iwamaru, who is in a green-and-yellow Hawaiian shirt and red beach shorts, and asks, "What am I doing here? What are _you_ doing here?" Then he heard Iwamaru's thoughts, "_Rosuto is _never_ going to grow up or stop bothering me!_"

Li said, "Actually, I did grow up and I've decided to stop bothering you about 7 and a half years ago." Iwamaru growls, "The hell you——" he stopped in mid-sentence, and asks Li, "What a minute; did you just read my thoughts just now?" Li nods, "Yes… not just you, before you… Meiru-san just heard my thoughts about her and then Yuri-kohai heard Meiru-san's thoughts."

Meiru's voice was heard, "You two, too?" The boys looked towards the beach and found Yuri and Meiru, looking about half-spooked, close to them. Li asks, "I suppose you've heard our argument that died down and quickly ran over here?" Yuri nods, "See? I've told you that a lot of years could change a man's personality."

Meiru asks, "But what was the source of this telepathy between us?" Yuri says, "Yeah, think something to us, Li." Li puts his knuckles to his lips in deep thought then finally thought-spoke to them, "_I'm sorry for the insults I've given you, Meiru-san, Iwamaru-san. And I've always thought you were adorable, Yuri-kohai. Plus I've come here on a day-off._"

Iwamaru was dumbfounded, "_HUH? Rosuto _did_ change after all?_" Meiru was shocked, "_EH? He actually _like-likes _my body in a bikini?_" Yuri smiles, "_WOW! Li-sempai, you're the best!_"

Li suddenly went into a trance… the top of his right hand's fist revealed a red plain triangle caged in a circle of strange symbols and markings. He snapped out of it the moment he's found it in his sights! "EH?"

Iwamaru saw the mark and said, "I saw this strange green symbol here this morning. Don't know what it is exactly." He showed them a green triangle with a horizontal line through it caged in a circle of strange symbols and markings on his left upper arm.

Yuri said, "Same with Aneki and me." She showed a yellow triangle with a horizontal line through it caged in a circle of strange symbols and markings on her left forearm. Meiru pointed to a spot on her right leg's inner thigh, which is covered up with a special skin tone cream that dried up some time ago. She removed it with her hand to reveal a blue plain triangle caged in a circle of strange symbols and markings there.

Li said, "Do you think it's possible that we can communicate with others like so?" Meiru said, "I've come to enjoy my scheduled day-off, and yet this day's too half-good to be true." Yuri asks, "Half-good? What do you mean? It's too real to be a dream."

Li heard Iwamaru's thoughts, "_Hmm… I wonder…_" Li held his ground as Iwamaru sucker-punched him in the back, Iwamaru asks him, "Does that hurt?" Li pinched him, "Of course it does." Iwamaru was freaked, "Okay, I'm convinced that this is too real to be a dream!" Yuri and Meiru pinched each other on the shoulder to check if they're dreaming, in unison they shouted "ITAI! It's not a dream!"

Li grunts as he moves his head a bit, "Some voice in my head is telling me to concentrate on its owner's location… in an abandoned café in the center of town… and touch the encircled triangles on us." Iwamaru grunts too, "Same here." Yuri said, "Could be the one who did this to us." Meiru said, "We may as well get to the bottom of this."

Li concentrated and touched the red triangle on his fist; he became a great ball of red fire and flew off south through the sky! Iwamaru gulps as he did the same thing and turned into a small green dust devil and spiraled off after Li. Yuri and Meiru looked at each other before touching their marks, Yuri became a bright yellow cloud and zoomed off as Meiru turned into a spray of blue-colored water and jetted after her friend!

The four landed together in an abandoned restaurant in the center of Odaiba… to their surprise, new changes were beginning to grow on them, literally—— Li's hair turned a bright red, Iwamaru's turned bright green, Yuri's hair turned bright yellow, and Meiru's turned bright blue!

Yuri was a little excited, "What's happened to us?" A gruff voice from behind her replied, "Calm down or else you're going to change into your Soul DNA Shape, a form which can make you mistaken yourselves as monsters."

But it was too late… Li felt his blood boil! Then he felt and heard his bones crunching and his flesh stretching! He felt himself on the head and felt what felt just like fox ears! Nervously and slowly, as soon as the earthquake was over, he looked at his reflection in a mirror on the wall; he is no longer a normal human!

His human ears repositioned and reshaped into 100 percent fox-like ears (bigger than an ordinary fox's)! His complexion and skin tone is not normal anymore; it's more orange than his usual Caucasian! His hair is now not only longer than before but the color is now lava red and lightning white tipped! He felt his muscles; they're firmer beyond normal! His legs have become covered in thick red hair! His nails are now charcoal black! His eyes' irises have gone rose red! Another extraordinary thing is that he has a white-tipped red-haired tail like a fox too!

He nervously looked at his clothing; it glowed right and than a bright white! As the glow stopped, he reopened his eyes to see that he's now got huge metal shoulder pads of gold and iron, a few leather belts holding things together, he's got no shirt, red denim shorts, and no shoes! He has found a fire opal wristband on his left wrist! On the belt around his waist he's discovered a sheathed Japanese sword from the Medieval Age on Earth!

Iwamaru's transformation was much more different from Li's; his human ears have recently repositioned and reshaped into 100 percent wolf-like ears (bigger than an ordinary wolf's)! His complexion and skin tone is not normal anymore; it's browner than his usual Caucasian! His hair is now not only longer than before but the color is now a _real _grass green! His muscles are firmer beyond normal! His legs have become covered in thick green fur! His nails are now gold-colored! His eyes' irises have gone pine green! Another extraordinary thing is that he has a gray-colored tail like a wolf too!

He's now got huge metal shoulder pads, a few leather belts holding things together, he's got no shirt either, green denim shorts, and no shoes! A quartz wristband is on his left wrist! On the belt around his waist is a war hammer with a pentacle!

Yuri's human ears have recently reshaped into 100 percent feathery wing-shaped elf-like ears! Her complexion and skin tone is still normal! Her hair is now not only longer than before but the color is now a sun yellow color! Her legs and muscles still seem the same! Her nails are now gold-colored! Her eyes' irises have gone a golden yellow color! Another extraordinary thing is that she has a pair of rainbow-colored butterfly wings on her back!

She's now clad in a yellow 2-piece silk bikini with straps connecting the pieces together with the thick gloves and the garter-length boots with thick heels/soles! Over her eyes and ears is what appears to be a Virtual Reality headset with butterfly wings over the earpieces! A choker with a topaz charm/clasp hangs around her neck! On the garter belt her right leg is a quiver of arrows and a bow!

Meiru's human ears have recently reshaped into 100 percent elf-like ears too, only hers are webbed-like and triple-pronged! Her complexion and skin tone is still normal! Her hair is now not only longer than before but the color is now a crayon blue! Her muscles and legs still seem the same! Her nails are now silver-colored! Her eyes' irises have gone a sea blue color! Another extraordinary thing is that she a pair of long ribbon-like antennae on her head that swirl around her body!

She's clad in a blue 2-piece spandex bikini with straps connecting the pieces together! The garter-length boots shape her legs! Most of the back of her hair is now placed in a long ponytail like a whale's tail. An aquamarine clasp on a choker like Yuri's is hanging around her neck! She's got fin-like skirt sides, two of them shorter in front and two longer on behind. On the garter belt her left leg is collapsible trident!

Li's thoughts went haywire, "_Oh man! You wait 7-and-a-half years to just to find those you've met and apologize to; next thing you know; you and they become strange chimera creatures! Well… Meiru-san is still gorgeous._" Meiru scoffs, "I heard that, Li. If you're sorry for insulting me those countless times back when we were children, you're going to have to be my slave until you pay me 1,000,000 yen (about $8,536.80)."

Yuri said to Meiru, "Aneki; now's not the time to be arguing with Li-sempai and making him your slave as you wish. Someone is here and it's not the same voice as the one we heard in our heads." a small red humanoid robot with a golden stylized lightning bolt symbol on its chest, a golden badge-like pack on its back, and has a golden flying saucer-shaped (or an inflated hockey puck) head with a red visor as eyes. Its left forearm is like it's covered in a large blue almost cube-shaped gauntlet with a wrist cannon.

Yuri was amazed, "A fully-sentient multifunctional automaton." Then she went into an excited state, "THIS IS TOO COOL!" The same gruff voice, which came from this robot, said to Yuri (before she could rattle on), "If you would please, young lady. I, Alpha Sword, and my comrades are introducing ourselves to you."

Two more robots appeared from out of the darkness, side-by-side with Alpha Sword. The first one is like Alpha, but is yellow colored with gray plates and has arms and legs like coils and has a head like battle tank (whose caterpillar treads on side serve as a visor for the robot). He introduced himself in a somewhat C-3PO type of voice, "My name is Beta Gun." And the third is like the Alpha, but this one is blue with silvery linings and has small yet thick angelic wings, no thick arm, a more feminine build, and its head is like a small submarine. She spoke with a kind and calm voice, "And I am Gamma Wing. It's of great honor, we've finally met you."

The transformed young adults were confused, "Huh?"

"Please don't fret," said a calm and depressed man's voice, "they help me in my conquest against evil." The four of them turned to the counter to find a white-haired young-looking man in white armor and robes sitting in one of the seats before it, "Greetings."

Li heard Meiru's mind go off; "_Oh my god! That white-haired man is not just _drop-dead_ gorgeous, he's _sexy_ as heaven!_" along with disturbing images of her with him. Meiru rushed up to the white-robed fellow with hearts in her eyes! The mysterious man said to her, "Right now, young Meiru-san, you need information to why you were called here and why you're like this."

The mysterious man introduces himself, "I am Vaal, a paladin from beyond the stars. I've come to this planet of Earth, as a protector, 4.6 billion years ago." Meiru froze stiff at the end of that sentence! Vaal gulps a bit, "Although I did skip off this planet about 6 million centuries back, until I was needed again."

Li remembers something, "Wait! Does this have to do with the mysterious storm that absorbed the spaceship, the Comet Flash 9?" Vaal nods, "Yes. But that was no ordinary storm… it was a spell." Yuri asks in a worried tone of voice, "And the Terran astronauts that were on that mission?" Vaal answers, "Seduced." Meiru gasps, "What, you mean they're possessed by something evil?" Vaal nods, "Yes… close your eyes and focus on my memories; in a way, it can open your eyes to the world beyond your normal form of sight."

Iwamaru was dumbfounded, "Huh?" Li answers, "He means we can see things in our heads that are happening around the world." Iwamaru understood that, "Oh, why didn't you just say so?"

The four concentrated and in their heads they've found a beautiful woman in black, Vaal's thoughts narrated to them, "_This is the Space Sorceress Princess Keia, a she-devil capable of powerful magic. Billions of years ago, she was one of my people… then her heart has become corrupted by evil. With her magical cards known as Keia Cards, her kingdom up on the moon, and her foot soldiers known as Shikigami, she plans to conquer Earth firsthand. I've imprisoned her on Mars until she could be saved, but now the chamber that kept her contained has been accidentally opened by those reckless human astronauts and she's continuing on with her plans._"

As the psychic vision ended, Yuri asks, "How is it that we were able to perform those psychic abilities?" Beta Gun sighs, "The Soul DNA that was injected into you with a combination of animals under any same possible alignment or element and some specific microscopic machines and then bombarded with Soul Force beforehand. One with Soul DNA can morph into a specific animal he/she is injected with or a combination in between, plus learn techniques and gain abilities that are virtually impossible to him/her; including specific kinetic abilities, healing factor, etc. The marks left on you after the injection came in different shapes. Those injection marks are also known as Soul DNA Marks."

Iwamaru twitched… then nervously pointed questionably at him and others several times, but his thoughts spoke for him as his mouth soundlessly moved on, "_You mean to say that on Rosuto's fist, the arms of me and Yuri-san, and Meiru-san's thigh are _these_ injection marks?_" Vaal said, "Yes. No need to be timid. You can turn back into a human, if you'd just think something like 'become human again'." Alpha Sword sternly said, "But remember, you will always be with those transformation abilities."

Iwamaru concentrated and then—— FLASH! In a blast of green light, Iwamaru changed completely back to normal, with the exception of the Soul DNA Mark on his left upper arm, only it's in a darker skin tone than the rest. Iwamaru shrugs, "Well, at least it's less conspicuous."

Li asks Vaal, "Are there any limits of these transformations that we should be aware of?" Gamma said, "Well… if any of you goes into an elemental emotion or attitude, you will begin to partially shapeshift into a new form. For example, Li; if you become hotheaded or highly aggravated, you will not only increase your body temperature but also gain features in your human form; like fox ears and/or tail, lion's mane, dragon scales, etc. Other than that, whatever form you're in it can last as long as you'd like and still be able to change into a different form later."

Meiru asks, as she changes back into a human in a blue flash, "But most importantly, what are these Soul DNA injections supposed to be for? Because it could be a mistake." Vaal said, "The injectors were programmed by my will, and the four of you have been chosen because… somewhere inside your own souls… the four of you have the will to save the world… as the paladins of elemental souls that span across the universe and beyond… Kouyou Sentai Soulranger."

Amazed, Yuri started, "Kouyou——" Iwamaru gulps, "Sentai——" Meiru finishes, "Soulranger?" Li, who wasn't amazed at all, asks, "What are your first orders of command, sir?" Meiru and Iwamaru opposed him——

Iwamaru started, "Hey! First, we didn't accept this!" and Meiru said, "Second of all, we've got other important things to worry about!" Li stands up to their objections, "Don't any of you get it? Now that we've been infused with Soul DNA, there's no turning back, now that Keia's come to Earth, we have the responsibility to protect the planet and its people! I know that this is not some stupid video game and we could get killed, but regardless this is our duty… and this could help us in return."

"Very good, Li," said Vaal, "if the four of could protect this world, what do you want in return?" Meiru starts, "A nice man I'm destined for." Yuri follows, "Knowledge of all types, especially those under science." Iwamaru grunts, "The recognizable respect I deserve." Li thinks about it to himself, the others couldn't get into his head with the mind-reading technique because he focused on thinking to himself, and is doing a very good job at it. Finally said, "There's nothing I want in return; all the things in the future life I can get on my own or with the help of the others."

Alpha grunts with a half-laughing scoff, "Li passes." The four recruits asked in unison, "Eh?" Vaal sighs, "Unfortunately, the asking for what you needed in return was actually a test to see if any of you are ready to achieve the Soul Badges, the next items needed for the full transformation of each member." He presented the recruits with triangular metallic badges with crystalline interiors with colored orbs in the central points.

Li was confused on which to choose, then notices, "Six? Where are the other two members? Who are the other two members?" Vaal saddens a bit, "Unfortunately, they could not be on this planet… they may… or they may not. So far you should find the other two, of course, I have absolutely no objection to having extra Soulrangers. But what I do object is Iwamaru, Yuri, and Meiru's self-claimed incapability to work with you and with each other. All four of you will have to work together in the first battle when it arrives."

Vaal picked up one of the Soul Badges (with a red crystal interior and golden orb center) and tossed it to Li, who caught it with ease. He looks at it, but as he changes back into his human guise he says, "If these three are not willing to transform to Soulranger… then I will not either. The day I transform into a Soulranger; should be the day they should as well. So until then, I can't accept this yet." He hands it back to Vaal.

Vaal said to Li, "Take a good look at it; it's no longer in your hand." Li looked into the cup of his hand where the Soul Badge was, he asks, "What happened to it?" Beta answers, "It's safe in a pocket dimension, just seconds before it came into contact with you." Alpha said, "It's a sign that you are worthy of it, not only because of the Soul DNA inside your body but also your own soul." Gamma finishes, "In times when you need it, you will just call out 'Soul Badge' it shall appear and to transform, just place it on your Soul DNA Mark for full power and call out 'Soul Force unlock, Soul Henshin'."

Yuri came close to the one with yellow crystal interior and aluminum-colored orb, "A pocket dimension, huh? You're definitely alien from this Earth, aren't you?" Vaal nods, "Alien technology, that is correct, Ms. Yuri." Yuri changes back into her human form and picks up the Soul Badge she eyed on, it didn't disappear. She asks Beta, "Why won't it disappear?"

Beta said, "Because although you have Soul DNA, it can sense your doubts within your heart." Meiru picks up the Badge with a blue crystal interior and silver-colored orb and asks, "Sense? Are you… meaning to say… these things are almost… in a manner… alive?" Gamma nods to her. Iwamaru picks up the Soul Badge with a green crystal interior and lead-colored orb, it won't vanish either.

Li understood why they won't disappear from his to-be-comrades' hands, so he said, "Listen, regardless of how you still think of me, you're going to have to trust me and right now we're all in this thing together. Whether you like it or not."

Iwamaru felt some sort of sensation, "Like that woman, Keia, showing up in the western district?" Meiru asks, "What should we do it?" Li said, "Isn't it obvious? We have to save the world!" Then he dashed off! Yuri shouts out, "Li-sempai, wait up!" before she disappeared in a poof!

Alpha scoffs, "Not bad for a non-Soulranger." Gamma was amazed, "Super-speed; she may not be accepted by the Soul Badge yet, but I guess what Alpha meant to say is that she's got courage to help out." Iwamaru groaned, "Oh man! Compared to those two, I'm the slowest!" Meiru said, "That's my childhood friend out there; we've got to help her!" then she remembers, "and Li too!"

Gamma would've smiled if she had a mouth as she saw the remaining recruits run off into battle with those who should be their teammates, "They may not be ready, but there's no one else." Vaal nods, "I know."

—————

Keia stood amongst a panicking crowd of people, she drew a card from the deck and smiles, "Keia Card, summoning spell; Shikigami!" From that one card, a countless number of pieces of white paper flew off into the air and each expanded into larger forms that crumbled up and reshaped into more paper-mâché forms that quickly formed into white humanoid forms.

The four fighters chosen by Soul DNA arrived, in Soul DNA Shape form. Li said, "You wanna take over our planet? Well, you're going to have to go through us first!" Keia looked at them and had personal comments about them, individually——

"Too weird." (Li)

"Pathetic." (Iwamaru)

"Too adorable." (Yuri)

"That is _so_ unfair!" (Meiru)

Iwamaru gulps, "_I guess she found out that I'm phobic about girls still._" Meiru was confused, "Eh? What do you mean by that last statement?" Keia points to her bust and to Meiru's, Meiru looks at her respective bust and asks, "What does this have to do with anything?" Li answers, "For one, both of you are well-endowed and both of you are the same size as each other." Meiru growls in aggravation, Li quickly defends, "But I must say that sexiness is still one of your major benefits." Meiru hisses, "Just be glad that you're safe from my wrath, Li."

Keia calls out to her Shikigami, "Attack!"

Iwamaru pulls himself together, "Well, some real challenges. You know what they say; the more there are——" he stood still, waiting for the first wave of paper-mâché soldiers, he delivers a mighty punch which forced them all to fall like dominoes! Iwamaru finishes his sentence, "The easier they are to knock down."

Li nods, "Yeah, if she thinks she can beat us with paper-mâché servants/paper cut rejects, she's gravely mistaken!" He pulled out his sword, rapidly slicing a couple of the Shikigami to harmless pieces. Iwamaru pulls out his war hammer and smashes several of the Shikigami into dust, literally.

Yuri concluded, "Paper-mâché is nothing more than pieces of paper with dried textile paste, so it's a piece of cake to defeat these Shikigami hard enough, they will be defeated just as easily." She pulled out her bow and a few arrows, "I'm going to test what happens when deal a small amount of damage to them." She fired off a few arrows at some of the Shikigami, they're still standing; they pulled out the arrows and surprisingly the Shikigami have a healing factor that made the punctures from Yuri's arrows disappear.

Meiru took out her trident and extended its pole, making it a more capable trident and weapon. She saved her friend crushing each of the Shikigami after her, which caused them each to split in half and crumble. Meiru said, "They may strong and heal fast to minor attacks like your arrows, but against strong attacks like Li and Iwamaru's weapons, they crumble like cookies."

Li snaps his fingers, producing a small flame hovering over those fingers. He concentrated and it got bigger, giving him an idea, "Yuri-kohai, do you have any arrows left?" Yuri answers, "The quiver seems to create a virtually unlimited supply of them." Li says, "Fire some more after I set them aflame!"

Yuri prepares a few arrows and pulls back on the string, Li shoots a jet of fire over to her arrows and set them on fire, Yuri got the idea and fired the flaming arrows at rest of the Shikigami; the flaming arrows burned through the Shikigami and continued on to the rest!

No more Shikigami, the four stood victorious!

Keia said, "I see that the four of you are capable of defeating my always-replaceable Shikigami, but how are you against my Keia Cards?" She cackled malevolently, as the four got ready to stop her, suddenly… she stopped in her tracks. She held her stomach in great pain; "My body must be experiencing something terrible since I was set free from that chamber back on Mars. I apologize for not being able to destroy you now, but we'll get to making the four of you either my death victims… or my love slaves." She gibbered out a few mystical words before disappearing into thin air.

The crowd gathered in satisfaction and gratitude around their rescuers. Iwamaru puts his hands to his hips and scoffs, "So… that's Keia? Nothing to it!" Meiru shivered and gagged, "That's one _sick_ lady!" Yuri shrugs, "Who cares? We've won and that's all that matters."

Li felt differently, "Then what is this unholy aura in the air I'm sensing?" His comrades looked at him questionably, "Huh?" The sky darkened and crackled with lightning soon afterwards…

The crowd moved away in terror at the sight of it! A bolt of lightning from the darkness struck the ground with incredible force… from the destruction in the pavement emerged a warrior in hellish armor.

Iwamaru squeezed his knuckles inward with a gleeful grin, "About time we've got a real challenge. Maybe if we defeat this guy, it should convince our Soul Badges that we are worthy after all." Yuri said with a bright smile, "That knight doesn't stand a chance!" Meiru said, "Don't get too reckless, Keia could be dangerous as well as this goon of hers."

The hellish warrior figure stood up and gruffly said, "Keia? I serve no one but myself, for I am more powerful than anything the past foe you've encountered was. I am Kyamio the Hell Knight" Three of the four transmutant fighters were surprised, "You're _not_ with her?" Li said, "I've been trying to tell you guys that something _much_ bigger is going on here. I can feel it; this guy's got a power that's even greater than about 14 duplicates of Keia plus herself." The warrior nods, "Your ability to sense power levels in others is uncanny, Fire Elemental."

A lion-shaped body of dark energies fell from the darkness above, taking it with it and within itself, and then landing beside Kyamio. Kyamio placed his left hand on the mysterious entity and it turned into a large metallic violet shield with black plates. The lightning that was still above since the darkness left, bolted down and struck the shield, forming a hellish silver sword from behind it. With his free hand, he drew it and pointed at them.

Iwamaru felt fear well up inside of him, "_Oh no! I'm starting to sense Kyamio's level of power too! I can't handle this!_" Yuri felt the fear overcome her too, "_If someone like Iwamaru couldn't stand up to that? Does that mean that Kyamio is capable of killing his foes with a single attack?_" Meiru felt despair filling her soul, "_Does this mean that with one blow of that sword can devastate all these cities in one stroke without having to touch them with his blade? All the innocent souls… doomed!_"

Li stood courageously, as his comrades lay on the ground in fear, gloom, and despair, "I know what destruction is and comes with calamity, but even I won't let that happen! For I: the strength and power of Fire, I am also the light to guide others through the darkness! Iwamaru: the stability and support of Earth, he is also the darkness to balance things out with darkness and light! Yuri: the intellect and purity of Air, is also the mind that knows all that we should never give up hope and always know that the sun of miracles will always rise, bringing the break of a whole new day! And Meiru: the wisdom and force of Water, is also the heart that cares for all life and gives life to all who have a purpose in the universe! I have confidence in them, but do they realize it yet? First, I want to let them know I'm sorry for everything mean I've did to them in the past. Will they forgive me?"

Kyamio said, "Pity, all the pretty and noble words in the world cannot bring those who've already lost hope in their first battle." Then he sent his sword crashing down at Li, who caught the blade with ease, and pushed down on the blade, believing that it could cut through and kill Li!

But Kyamio was proven wrong; Iwamaru is pushing against Li's back, supporting him with the force to push Kyamio back! He said, "Even though I still wanna kick your ass… you're right… and I forgive you, Rosuto Li." Yuri joined in by pushing against Iwamaru's back, "Think of a bright and righteous future, and it will come!" Meiru joined in too, "I forgive you too, Li… now let's save the world from these evil forces… together!"

The feelings of the four formed a powerful ball of radiant rainbow-colored energies into Li's hands, which are still blocking Kyamio's blade! FLASH! Kyamio's sent flying backwards! The same energy that forced their foe back suddenly got to the Soul Badges and caused them to disappear!

Yuri telepathically contacted Vaal and asks him, "_Does this mean——?_" "_Yes._" replied Vaal.

Yuri said, "We can transform now!" Iwamaru smiles, "Then what're we waiting for?" Li nods, "Let's transform!"

Together, they shout out, "Soul Badges!" their Soul Badges formed into their hands, they placed them over their Soul DNA Marks and shout out, "Soul Force unlock…" and presented them forward in their palms, shouting out, "SOUL HENSHIN!"

Meiru stood in the middle of an ocean, the she exploded into a humanoid figure of illuminating blue water! A tidal wave came crashing from behind her… as she resurfaced… her body is suited into a blue suit with white gloves and boots! A white-colored belt appeared and had her Soul Badge appear onto it like a belt buckle, with a holster on both sides of the belt. A gentle rain came down on her, creating a blue helmet over her head; the visor is like the fin at the end of a whale's tail. She positioned herself in a water-connected kata, with a beautiful rainbow above the calm sea in the background!

Yuri stood in the calm clear blue sky, and spun like a top and formed a tornado from it! Feathers of all sizes, shapes, and colors came flying from without her; as her small whirlwind died out… her body is suited into a yellow suit with white gloves and boots! A white-colored belt appeared and had her Soul Badge appear onto it like a belt buckle, with a holster on both sides of the belt. Small gusts of wind blew through her hair, creating a yellow helmet over her head; the visor is shaped like a bird in flight. She positioned herself in a wind-connected kata, with a flash of sunlight in the background!

Iwamaru stood in the middle of a rock quarry, before he dissolved into a humanoid figure of brown stone! A landslide of boulders came crashing from behind him… as he resurfaced from the boulders… his body is suited into a green suit with white gloves and boots! A white-colored belt appeared and had his Soul Badge appear onto it like a belt buckle, with a holster on both sides of the belt. Small gusts of wind filled with fresh green leaves blew through his hair, creating a green helmet over his head; the visor is like a bull's face. He positioned herself in an earth-based kata, with a beautiful tree growing to its fullest potential in the background!

Li stood in the middle of an ocean of fire; he exploded into a humanoid figure of red fire! Flame came erupting from around him and within… as the flames calmed down… his body is suited into a green suit with white gloves and boots! A white-colored belt appeared and had his Soul Badge appear onto it like a belt buckle, with a holster on both sides of the belt. A gentle shower of sparks came down on him, creating a red helmet over his head; the visor is like a lion's gaping jaws. He positioned herself in a fire-based kata, with a beautiful display of fireworks popping in the background!

Meiru performed a back-flip before 'swimmingly' danced on the spot like a dolphin, "The wisdom and force from the pure heart; the soul of the water element, Soul Blue!"

Yuri spins in a pirouette on one toe with her arms outstretched like wings, "The intellect and purity of the tempest of joy; the soul of the air element, Soul Yellow!"

Iwamaru slams his fist to the ground and showed off his muscles a bit, "The stability and fertility of the sacred ground; the soul of the earth element, Soul Green!"

Li quickly spins three times, stops, then spreads out his arms like wings, "The strength and power of the holy sun fire and light; the soul of the fire element, Soul Red!"

Together, they shout out in unison, "Together our combined elemental souls create a whole new universe!" Li and Iwamaru stood beside each other as Meiru stood beside Li and Yuri stood beside Iwamaru. Finally, they shout out, "Kouyou Sentai Soulranger!"

Kyamio screams out "DAMN YOU!" The Soulrangers looked at their latest foe without fear. Soul Green squeezed his knuckles with a free hand, "Let's see how tough you are, Kyamio."

Kyamio started to give off an aura not too indifferent from the dark energies he's showed up from, but then it created three warrior entities that appear to be in the same hellish armor as Kyamio with the exception for the additional features and look a lot sleeker than his. Soul Red said, "Oh man! He's cloned himself from his aura!" Kyamio pointed his blade at Soul Red, "You, who did not flinch at my power, shall face me while your comrades die at the hands of my Hell Clones!"

Soul Green and Soul Yellow looked to their left hand holsters and found blaster weapons with a numeral keypad and grabbed it, she folded hers down into a gun-like form, "Soul Stick, laser gun mode!" while Soul Green's had a blade flip out like a Swiss army knife, "Soul Stick, sonic sword mode!"

Soul Blue looked to her right hand holster, and found a mystical-looking dagger with a plain if not prismatic crystal blade and drew it out, "Soul Blade!" At the hilt of the dagger is a golden symbol with the same triangular symbols like their own Soul DNA Marks forming a strange four-pointed star, which is surrounded by other celestial symbols. Her crystal blade glowed a bright blue as she held it up high!

Soul Red took both his Soul Blade and Soul Stick and inserted his mystical dagger's handle into the barrel, which shrank into the technological sidearm, giving his new weapon a crystal blade! "Soul Sword!"

Soul Yellow faced her opponent from a distance, and giving him a slip every time he had his sword come close to her by a millimeter, making him miss every time. She typed in a code, "111." The weapon said to her, "Attack Beam." She pointed her weapon at the Hell Clone after her and fired a yellow laser beam at him, but he blocked the beam with his sword and redirected it to the ground. Soul Yellow didn't give up with her weapon and kept firing until she struck her opponent's eye, then he fell backwards and exploded!

Soul Green held out against his opponent in a battle of strength and swordsmanship, "You guys are about as tough as the gigantic boxers I used to take on in my youth!" He also observed Soul Yellow's victorious battle and typed into his Soul Stick's keypad, "95137." The Soul Stick said, "Sonic Frequency 95137." Soul Green pushed the blade into his opponent's sword so hard that it not only somehow _cut_ through the blade but also his opponent as well, slicing him in half!

Soul Blue could hardly believe the amazing power her Soul Blade possesses as she battles her Hell Clone opponent, it seemed to have its power increase by her own, making it sharper, stronger, and tougher than her opponent's armor and sword. She also concentrated on the spinal cord of her opponent and struck the back of his neck, destroying him!

Soul Red typed in 111110 into the keypad of his Soul Sword, which said earlier, "Elemental Access." Every time Kyamio and Soul Red's blades connected, an explosion set them apart thanks to Soul Red's own weapon.

Battered, exhausted, and outnumbered, Kyamio said, "I've never expected the four of you to be a capable team. For now, I will take my leave, but remember; I'll be back to finish you off someday. Also, beware of the Seven Deadly Forces, for that kingdom belonging to the pathetic slut Keia and I are but 2 of them." Then he disappeared away from their point of view.

Although the good citizens of Odaiba cheered for their new champions' victory, a concern has been placed upon their shoulders; who are the other Seven Deadly Forces?

To be continued…


	2. Rise of the Demons & Familiars

**Kouyou Sentai Soulranger**

**(Elemental Squadron Soulranger)**

———————

Vessel 2: Rise of the Demons & Familiars

———————

It has been about two days since the Soulrangers first appeared… in a deep cave far in the northwest of Japan… a human hand picks up a piece of newspaper with a headline reading 'New Sentai and New Mysterious Evil!' in Japanese, a young masculine voice growled coldly before throwing it away, "Now's about time I'd take my wrath and vent it upon those who calls themselves dominant!"

————

Li was on his way to the Soulranger hideout; Yuri, his teammate also known as Soul Yellow, called a special meeting there with the rest of the Soulrangers. But something caught his eye; a nest of four different-colored egg-like mechanical objects (one red, one green, one yellow, and one blue) sitting in the shade of a bush. Suspicious of the eggs at first, Li decided to collect them so they could be studied further.

Soon afterwards, he discovered that the red one opened and disintegrated as soon as it made contact with Li's bare skin, revealing a small red-colored lion cub from within. Li hid the little creature into his jacket before continuing on.

————

As Li got there, the whole place has been remodeled and painted with earth tones on the bottom, topped off by an oceanic theme, above that was a sky-blue paint with white clouds, topped off with fiery designs on the top. The blue curtain sign on top of the door read in Japanese, 'Elemental Four Café', a sign next to it read 'Open on Sundays and Holidays; or to anyone with an customer card or employee's ID at any time'. A circular logo with a volcano on the upper-left corner, a forest on the lower-left corner, a rainbow-filled sky on the lower-right corner, and an ocean on the upper-right corner sat above the door and below the windows above it.

Li entered the café to discover the inside has been re-modified as well; the center of the café room has a circular counter for the cashier's work. The north side of the large room has a counter similar to a tree trunk with tree stump-like stools in front of it, the east side has a counter that is somewhat space age with impressive sci-fi features too, the west side has a counter that has a very tropical beach theme along with an aquarium behind it and palm tree-like stools in front, and the south side has a volcano-like counter with interesting fire-themed chairs in front of it.

Yuri popped out from behind the space age counter waving to Li with great glee, "I see that you've showed up!" Li nods, "Yeah… isn't the thought about who the other 5 groups of the 7 Deadly Forces are bothering? It has been driving me nuts! First we've got a sorceress/princess from space who uses magical cards named Keia, next shows up a very powerful Hell Knight named Kyamio… what's next someone with a bad temper?"

————

In the forest, a humanoid figure with a large mane of silvery hair stopped to sneeze. "As usual," he said, "mankind mocks me when it has no idea I still exist!"

————

Meiru shows up from a secret passage, that functions like revolving doors, in the corner between the forest and beach counters, she notices Li and said, "I see that you've noticed that Yuri-chan has rebuilt this old café into something of our theme on the ground level."

Li asks, "What's on the upper and lower levels? Plus where're the kitchen and the bathrooms, even the supply room?" Vaal came out of the same place Meiru has, but this time in a normal white-colored modern day attire of an executive, then he answered to Li, "The upper levels are personal rooms between you Soulrangers plus any extra. The lower levels are just our new headquarters, more appropriate for a headquarters down below when we're out to combat evil. The kitchen is right behind the space bar, and behind the kitchen is the supply room."

Li sighs, "I presume Iwamaru-san is also here." Iwamaru came in, with a load of frozen ingredients in his hands, "I've been here for a while." Iwamaru whispers a question to Li, "Tell me if anybody who's possibly raised you told you to grow up right some time in the last 7 years ago?" Li said, "Those jerks that dare to call themselves my sisters used to say that you'd have to lie or cheat to get along with other people. Fortunately, I've learned better." Iwamaru said, "Thank the lord."

Li yelped a bit, "Oh!" From out of Li's jacket leapt out the red lion cub, which landed on the forest counter with ease. Iwamaru was surprised at it, "What in the world… is that?" Li confessed, "Okay, I've found these strange eggs and I've felt a bit suspicious of them so I decided to bring them here. Strange thing is that little red guy took a liking to me."

Vaal said, "Congratulations, Li; you've found not only your first Soul Familiar Egg, but the ones belonging to your comrades." The Soulranger got confused, "Soul Familiar Egg?" Vaal explained, "Soul Familiars are genetically created creatures formed from a combination of science and magic, along with the power of Soul Force and sharing the same Soul DNA as the original. In other words, creatures that share a small bit of Soul DNA equivalent to the Soulranger it belongs to. To, in a way, _hatch_ them, the appropriate Soulranger must be in skin contact with the 'shell'. When the Soul DNA injectors flew off to find you, the Eggs blasted and became scattered across the land."

Meiru said, "So we have to travel to look for the Soul Familiar Eggs?" Li shrugs, "That's basically what he's saying." Yuri hatched hers and got a small yellow eaglet earlier, which has perched on her left shoulder, "Think of it as an adventure of a lifetime. Yellow Eagle here said it's an idea."

The other Soulrangers were confused, "Said?" Vaal explained that too, "Soulrangers have a telepathic link with their Soul Familiars, even though they're very young they're as mature as you are… in spirit, because of your physical contact and Soul Force. But they will grow up faster, or evolve, into much more powerful beings after achieving enough experience they need."

Iwamaru and Meiru looked at each and decided to see what was inside their blue egg and green egg… Iwamaru's first Soul Familiar looks like a small green bull and Meiru's is a blue snake. Meiru sighs a bit, "Am I sly like a snake?" Iwamaru looks curiously at the miniature green bull before him, "_This_ could be one piece of the explanation to why I feel like butting my head into other people lately."

Li said, "Oh, that's nothing; lately I've been chasing mice due the feline genes I've discovered in me." Meiru laughs at Li, "I've always thought of you as a ridiculous cat; but I never thought you'd stoop to actually chase mice!" Li adds in, "And eat them whole?" Meiru stopped her laughing, then checks his back by feeling it… finally she said, "A master of the sword and firearms? Oh! Due to a few dislocations in your spinal cord due to overworking yourself, you will mess up in… one skill of any type… once… every… 3,000 times you use them."

Li asks, "Do I have to pay an extra million yen? It's the 3rd time you've asked me to extra." He hands Meiru a check worth of 58.8 million Japanese yen ($500,000). Her eyes bug out at the sight of it! She asks, "Where the heck do you get this kind of cash?" Li answers, "Before our adventures as Soulrangers began, which was less than three days ago, I've gotten lucky into monetary lotteries. Plus, I just last week I've bet on a prizefighter called the Roaring Mountain God."

Yuri and Iwamaru gasped in unison, "You've gambled?" Li replies, "Only a little." Iwamaru asks, "How many times did you gamble?" Li answers, "Just the one." Iwamaru was surprised, "Just the one?" Yuri asks, "How many times did you enter the lottery?" Li answers, "Well, probably once a week ever since I've turned 18, so that was about a total of 7 times I've won. So in cases like that, I've got extraordinary luck. Plus I've gotten earnest-paid money from doing chores for my allowance and saving it up, working at first as a coffee boy at Sonic Bird Delivery, then saved up during my time as a regular boss's assistant there, and I've gotten my employee of the month just two months ago for being on time at each of my deliveries. So… I'm a good worker too."

Meiru was aghast, as were the others, "All that dough… multiplied after that _one_ gamble?" Li nods, "That's right. I'd say that in American cash, I'm to about $321 million after paying Meiru-san another time, which is now." Yuri's eyes flashed with yen signs (¥) in her eyes, "That's about 37.7496 billion Japanese yen; think of all the cake and ice cream you can snack on!" Meiru regained herself, "Okay. Just lay down on your chest and _hold still_!" Li does so… Meiru lands a powerful punch to the base of Li's spine, which he endured well, as she starts his work.

A few minutes later… after a few more rubs from Meiru's hands to Li's shoulders—— POP! Li sprawled on the ground, as Meiru sighs out, "Now that feels a whole lot better." Meiru stuffs the check down her dress, "That kind of cash deserves the magic in the wrist." Li tests his back with a little hip-shaking form of dancing, no problems whatsoever. Meiru asks, "During my exploration on your back… you seemed to have taken a massive emotional blow in your childhood too."

Li stops his ridiculous test dancing and sighs, "I'm going to get my luggage, so I can move into my room here." Then he left out the door… Meiru suddenly got soft, "What? Was it something I said?" Red Lion leapt from the counter to Meiru's shoulder and said to her, "He's a little sensitive when it comes to having others discovering his secrets." Red Lion leaped away from her shoulder and began hopping like a he was chasing mice.

Meiru sits in a stool at the beach bar of the café, "The blow must've been serious to him." Iwamaru sighs, "Hey, Green Bull." His Soul Familiar mooed to him, he answers it "I'd like you to help out with the supplies in the back, so follow me." Without question, the little green calf followed its owner through the hidden revolving door.

——————

The silver-haired being entered Odaiba, he is clad in an old but fancy kimono that made him appear to be from an aristocratic family in the feudal era, and searched everywhere for a normal human to terrorize. He eyed a young man with the Sonic Bird Express logo on the back of his jacket. He found his aura interesting, so he followed him…

Li, who didn't want anyone to pry into his childhood yet, has left the Elemental Four Café in search for himself for a bit and to calm down too. But something from behind him made him tense, he looked behind him but found nobody there. But, as a Soulranger, he knows he should never let his guard down and should always expect the unexpected, especially if it's one of the mysterious Seven Deadly Forces.

He figured it would be best to stop thinking like a human and more than that… he dashed off for a place to hide, feeling the presence of a mysterious being pursuing him still and changed into his Soul DNA Shape. He leaped to the roofs of the buildings to look for his pursuer… or by chance, have the mysterious pursuer look for him.

Li stood still and asked, "Are you one of the Seven Deadly Forces? If so, are you organized?" The silver-haired man who was chasing him earlier asks, "Who are these Seven Deadly Forces? I am organized with no one but myself, for I hate all humans. But you are special——" Li turned to face the silver-haired man as he continued talking, "The blood in your body carries more than just human blood, it transformed you into something not human, and you carry a hatred for a few certain humans. Join me and then we can vent our wrath open our enemy!"

Li asks, "Our wrath? The only thing I want to vent is my temper. Besides as much as I dislike the family I was raised in, it's still my duty to protect them." Kyamio's voice was heard, "Well spoken, paladin of the fire element."

Li growls, "Kyamio." The silver-haired man's eyes widened, "The Hell Knight?" Kyamio nods, "Yes, my dear half-demon." Li looks at the silver-haired man, "Half-demon?" Kyamio says to Li, "Paladin of the fire element, if there is one thing we, the Seven Deadly Forces, _aren't_; it's that we aren't organized with each other. We may in the future join forces to crush you, but we're not organized with each other. You've just found one of them on your own; his name is Lusaten." Then he disappeared.

The silver-haired man turned to Li, "Since you refuse to be allies with me and are one of humanity's protectors, you are my enemy." From out of his back sprayed out a black cloud of darkness that formed into 16 black-colored humanoid warriors; each with a pair of small horns on their heads, little bat wings on their backs, small mouths with fangs, claws instead of nails on their fingers, and small black tails like monkeys. The silver-haired man said, "These Imps will turn you into a corpse. Partially, I'm glad they weren't referring to me in the old newspaper… just the Seven Deadly Forces, and I'm one of them; more than enough to punish mankind for shunning my existence. Your powerful-looking foe, Kyamio, was right about me: my name is Lusaten! Good-bye!" then he disappeared into thin air!

Li wouldn't let the number of the Imps scare him, so he stood his ground and let them come to get him!

—————

Back at the Elemental Four Café, Meiru was looking at her new Blue Snake straight in the eye out of boredom. When she noticed Red Lion trying to get to the door with a bag in his little mouth, Meiru got up and picked the little feline up, and asks him "What seems to be the problem, Simba-chan?" The little red lion cub said, "Aniki's in trouble!" Yuri asks, "By 'Aniki', do you mean Li-sempai?" Red Lion shouts, "Yes! If you're Aniki's partners, you should be able to sense what he's experiencing now!"

Iwamaru scoffs, "Don't call me his partner!" Yuri said, "We should concentrate and see if he's in trouble anyway!" Meiru sighs, "She's right, even if we don't exactly trust him yet, we must learn to if we're really Soulrangers."

The three Soulrangers closed their eyes and concentrated on Li, what they saw was not good for Li's position: they saw Li trying to fight his way through the Imps!

Before taking off to help him, Red Lion shouts, "Hey! STOP!" The Soulrangers complied; Meiru bent down and asks, "Why?" Blue Snake hissed, "You may need us." Red Lion drops the bag to the ground, "And these." Yuri opens the bag, only to discover the walnut-sized colored gems they've found in the Eggs, she and Iwamaru asks in unison, "The Soul Familiar Egg yolks?"

Green Bull said to them, "The Soul Gems are our source of nutrition when we were dormant in our eggs, now that we're out, you can use our egg shells which recycle down into Soul Familiar Capsules which get transported through your Soul Badges." Iwamaru asks, "We can do that?" Yuri asks, "But where do the Soul Gems come in?" Yellow Eagle answers her, "Well, Onee-chan… they can become Soul Mediums, powerful items that can affect reality within our combined powers and imaginations."

Meiru realizes, "You mean… with you, we can have tools for battle? Aside from our personal abilities?" Blue Snake nods to her Soulranger, "Yes-s-s-s-s."

——————

Back with Li, he avoided the touch of the Imps and landed punches onto their heads. His reckless battles got too close to the innocent civilians; he's got to get them away from harm. One of the Imps snagged one of the adults and the poor man became paralyzed in fear the moment he was touched by the Imp. Li landed a punch to the Imp's face, freeing the poor man and catching him with his free hand, before landing to the ground on his feet.

Six of the other Imps surround him and began to jump him, but that was until a blizzard of arrows sent them all flying towards Li's leftward direction! Li recognized the arrows and looked to his right, the other Soulrangers in Soul DNA Shape form have arrived to the rescue along with the first Soul Familiars! The man who was petrified at first regained his senses to reality, "That devilish creature, its touch made me feel helpless… scared."

Iwamaru felt the man's shoulder, "This is strange; those devil foot soldier Imps as that Lusaten guy calls them have the power to make anyone they touch scared as hell." Li was surprised, "How did you figure _that_ out on your own, buddy?" Iwamaru replies, "First, don't call me 'buddy', and second, it's called psychometry; Vaal said it's become a natural ability for me now that I'm a Soulranger."

Li said, "Fine! Let's finish these guys off and find the half-demon named Lusaten, he's one of the Seven Deadly Forces!" Iwamaru prepares for battle, but then relaxes a bit, "Why don't we wait here a bit and watch our little _pets_ finish off these imps?" Li asks, "What do you mean?" Iwamaru pointed to their Soul Familiars, who are going at it against the Imps rather well——

For a small blue extraordinary blue snake, Blue Snake is quick and careful when getting to her enemies safely, climbing around their bodies and then immediately biting them in possible vulnerable points of their bodies.

Yellow Eagle was like a rocket, zooming from one opponent to the next at startling speeds, pecking and clawing each of the Imps in the face. She was even quick enough to avoid their reach and touch.

Green Bull was surprisingly strong, bashing his head against the Imps' skulls!

Red Lion leaped from Imp to the other, digging his bites into the places where the shoulders meet the necks on the Imps' bodies.

Amazingly, the Soul Familiars got their fighting techniques from their owners: the Soulrangers! They also hold out well against bigger enemies!

Li said to his comrades, "Listen, this Lusaten is plotting something; just imagine what he may do: he just created just 16 of those Imps just by expelling a little of his aura into the air." Iwamaru touched Li on the forehead, "Okay," then leapt up towards the roof where first met Lusaten face-to-face and asks, "Lusaten was right about here, right?" Li nods, "Yes." Iwamaru said, "Then I know just _where_ he is. Let's transform and get there!"

Together, they shout out, "**Soul Badges**!" their Soul Badges formed into their hands, they placed them over their Soul DNA Marks and shout out, "**Soul Force unlock**…" and presented them forward in their palms, shouting out, "**SOUL HENSHIN**!"

Meiru stood in the middle of an ocean, the she exploded into a humanoid figure of illuminating blue water! A tidal wave came crashing from behind her… as she resurfaced… her body is suited into a blue suit with white gloves and boots! A white-colored belt appeared and had her Soul Badge appear onto it like a belt buckle, with a holster on both sides of the belt. A gentle rain came down on her, creating a blue helmet over her head; the visor is like the fin at the end of a whale's tail. She positioned herself in a water-connected kata, with a beautiful rainbow above the calm sea in the background!

Yuri stood in the calm clear blue sky, and spun like a top and formed a tornado from it! Feathers of all sizes, shapes, and colors came flying from without her; as her small whirlwind died out… her body is suited into a yellow suit with white gloves and boots! A white-colored belt appeared and had her Soul Badge appear onto it like a belt buckle, with a holster on both sides of the belt. Small gusts of wind blew through her hair, creating a yellow helmet over her head; the visor is shaped like a bird in flight. She positioned herself in a wind-connected kata, with a flash of sunlight in the background!

Iwamaru stood in the middle of a rock quarry, before he dissolved into a humanoid figure of brown stone! A landslide of boulders came crashing from behind him… as he resurfaced from the boulders… his body is suited into a green suit with white gloves and boots! A white-colored belt appeared and had his Soul Badge appear onto it like a belt buckle, with a holster on both sides of the belt. Small gusts of wind filled with fresh green leaves blew through his hair, creating a green helmet over his head; the visor is like a bull's face. He positioned herself in an earth-based kata, with a beautiful tree growing to its fullest potential in the background!

Li stood in the middle of an ocean of fire; he exploded into a humanoid figure of red fire! Flame came erupting from around him and within… as the flames calmed down… his body is suited into a green suit with white gloves and boots! A white-colored belt appeared and had his Soul Badge appear onto it like a belt buckle, with a holster on both sides of the belt. A gentle shower of sparks came down on him, creating a red helmet over his head; the visor is like a lion's gaping jaws. He positioned herself in a fire-based kata, with a beautiful display of fireworks popping in the background!

——————

In the southwestern point of Tokyo, Lusaten was terrorizing a young girl, who was hypnotized by him for some reason. He said to her, "Just be happy that you're going to be much stronger than you can ever dream of once his is over." A black demonic shadow rose from his body and crept closer to the girl…

The Soulrangers jumped in and kicked Lusaten in the back so hard that the shadow fell into the newspaper clipping he handed to the girl before him. Lusaten got angry and said, "Who the hell are you?"

Soul Blue performed a back-flip before 'swimmingly' danced on the spot like a dolphin, "The wisdom and force from the pure heart; the soul of the water element, Soul Blue!"

Blue Yellow spins in a pirouette on one toe with her arms outstretched like wings, "The intellect and purity of the tempest of joy; the soul of the air element, Soul Yellow!"

Soul Green slams his fist to the ground and showed off his muscles a bit, "The stability and fertility of the sacred ground; the soul of the earth element, Soul Green!"

Soul Red quickly spins three times, stops, then spreads out his arms like wings, "The strength and power of the holy sun fire and light; the soul of the fire element, Soul Red!"

Together, they shout out in unison, "Together our combined elemental souls create a whole new universe!" Soul Red and Soul Green stood beside each other as Soul Blue stood beside Soul Red and Soul Yellow stood beside Soul Green. Finally, they shout out, "Kouyou Sentai Soulranger!"

Soul Red said, "Your Imps are no match for us or our Soul Familiars, so surrender while you still have a chance, Lusaten!" Lusaten said, "I would rather die than surrender to you punks!" He stopped at the sound of paper rustling, he turned to look at the girl, who was now out like a light but the newspaper clipping got bigger and folded itself up into a giant origami creature made from newspaper, shaped almost like a lion!

Soul Green was amazed, "What the hell is that?" Soul Red had to agree, "Holy shit!" Soul Blue said, "I'd say it's a combination of a newspaper, a demon spirit, with a touch of black-and-white manticore features." Lusaten stood there and thought about it, "You know what? He tells me his name is Newspaper Manticore, even though he's made from the newspaper clipping I've got that gave me minor information about you four, he's still a force to be reckoned with. For now, adieu." Just like that, he faded into thin air!

Newspaper Manticore charged at the Soulrangers, sending them flying like pins hit by a bowling ball! As they crashed back down to the ground, Soul Green said, "This paper cat is certainly much stronger than those paper-mâché soldiers Keia uses." Like a flash, the tail came darting its way to Soul Green, narrowly missing him, but perfectly piercing a large hole in the pavement below him!

As the woman snapped out of her daze, she asks herself, "Where is that handsome man?" Soul Yellow sped her off to safety. Soul Blue said, "Be careful; if he's anything like the original manticore, his stinger tail would be poisonous and he'd have a powerful bite." Soul Red nods, "Yeah, if this origami lion would get any closer, we'd be Soulranger Shish kebab before we see any more of the Seven Deadly Forces!"

Soul Green incredulously asks, "And _what_ makes you think we're actually going to make it?" Soul Red looks ahead, which happen to be a horde of more Imps, and sighs at the sight the oncoming number of enemies, "First time we fought these guys was when I met him then had Kyamio tell me a fact about the Deadly Forces, now we're facing about twice as many this time and that makes 32."

Soul Blue hands Soul Red his red Soul Gem, it glowed into a bright orb of light that almost blinded him! As the glow turned down… it revealed a red wand-like object in his hand. Soul Green said, "Welcome to the loser's club; I've received a coin." He held it up to their leader, a perfect coin appearing to be made of solid gold with green metallic Saxon symbol of earth. Meiru shrugs as she pulls out a blue crystal chalice, "I've received a chalice and Soul Yellow-chan got the real winner; a sword." Soul Yellow pulls out a golden-yellow short sword from out of nowhere and thought-speaks with her friends, "_We can combine our powers with our Soul Familiars called Soul Tools or Soul Armaments_. _Remember_?"

Soul Red places his hand over Red Lion and said, "Let's make it hot." Red Lion levitated and turned into a red ball of light that went straight into Soul Red's wand. FLASH! The glowing red wand turned into a large red lion head-like gauntlet weapon on Soul Red's arm. "Lion Gauntlet!"

Soul Green places his hand over Green Bull's head. Green Bull levitated and turned into a green ball of light that went straight into Soul Green's coin. FLASH! The glowing green coin turned into a large green war-hammer weapon with a bull's head at the pommel of the handle. "Bull Hammer!"

Soul Yellow places her hand over Yellow Eagle's head. Yellow Eagle levitated and turned into a yellow ball of light that went straight into Soul Yellow's sword. FLASH! The glowing yellow sword turned into a medium-sized crossbow with the likeness of an eagle. "Eagle Crossbow!"

Soul Blue places her hand over Blue Snake's head. Blue Snake levitated and turned into a blue ball of light that went straight into Soul Blue's chalice. FLASH! The glowing blue chalice turned into a medium-sized baton weapon with a snake-like head at one end and a triangular spearhead on the other. "Snake Spear!"

Soul Red looks a bit confused at his weapon but then decides, "Aw, who cares? Let's go!" The Imps charged at the Soulrangers, and each Soulranger armed with a single Soul Armament in hand took on eight Imps.

In his battle with his Imps, whether he's hit them with the pommel's horns or the hammer's head, each Imp Soul Green has attacked is met with a small but powerful explosion that sent his foes flying before exploding into black smoke! Soul Green patted his Soul Armament on the bull's head and laughs, "I'm loving you, already, Bull Hammer!" Bull Hammer said to his wielder, "And you're amazing, Soul Green-Aibou."

Soul Blue twirled Snake Spear around like a cheerleader's baton and threw it like a boomerang, which all of the Imps she was taking on before returning to her hand perfectly. "I'm glad I took those 3 hard years of elementary school cheerleading and passed with good marks." Snake Spear said, "Let me at one of them, I'm famished." Soul Blue shrugs and thrusts her Soul Armament forward at an Imp and it extended in great length, like it can be used as a bullwhip too. The snake-like head part of Soul Blue's weapon widened its jaws to an extent to swallow an Imp and it does so successfully. As the baton returns to normal form, the snake's head belched before she said, "Excuse me." Soul Blue attacked an Imp from behind her with the spearhead end without looking at him. "You were hungry, Ebi-chan." The fallen Imps to the boomerang baton attack exploded on the ground, "And you've got one venomous bite."

Soul Red decided if he's got a gauntlet-like Soul Armament he could try some multiple rapid-fire right hook attacks with the Lion Gauntlet, which proves to be rather effective against the Imps. While pausing for one last attack on them, they're given major damage from the attack they've received from him. Soul Red said to Lion Gauntlet, "With you, I bet I can crush diamonds and use those extendible claws on the sides of your jaws to scratch through steel!" Lion Gauntlet said, "I can even take on energy blasts and shoot them out at our enemy, Aniki. Use the Soul Fist!" Li shouts, "**Soul Fist**!" with the ungloved fist, his left hook, he made all eight of his weakened Imps explode into black smoke!

Soul Yellow folds the wings on her Eagle Crossbow Soul Armament back, covering the weapon's sides, and pulls on the trigger from inside, which produced piercing sound waves from the beak that made the Imps she targeted at, get so confused that they went onto attacking each other until they've destroyed each other. "Ultrasound waves! Perfect!" Eagle Crossbow said to her, "If I had my wings in their original position, I can also fire energy arrows."

The Soulrangers regrouped before the Newspaper Manticore, who was charging at them! Soul Yellow fired ultrasound waves at the monster, but they barely had any effect on him as he plowed through her and her Soulranger comrades!

Soul Yellow asks, "What happened? The sound waves I fired at him didn't work!" Soul Red suggests, "I guess it's because he's made from a newspaper and a demon spirit; loud sounds aren't going to work on something made of living paper."

The Newspaper Manticore shouts out, "**Newspaper Grave**!" from his paper paw/hands shot out tied-up stacks of newspapers that buried the Soulrangers. Soul Green's helmeted head popped out from the massive pile first, looking at the headlines, "Whoa… 'Third of the Seven Deadly Forces Discovered.' I really wonder who the other four are."

Soul Blue struggled her way out of the newspapers, "That stupid newspaper grave attack is NO way… to treat a lady!" Soul Yellow giggles a bit as she followed Soul Blue, "Now _this_ is what I call 'Hardcopy'." Soul Green sighs, "Isn't there something to get you down, girl?"

Suddenly, the mountain of newspapers began to rumble like an earthquake… the three Soulrangers remembered, "Soul Red!" Somehow their red-suited friend is starting erupt in great power. BOOM! Soul Red caused the whole mountain of newspapers to explode, and he started roaring like a lion!

Suddenly Soul Red's eyes glowed bright red through the lion-like jaws-shaped visor over his eyes which, in a way, 'roared', and the silvery human-like mouth-plate opened like it was its wearer's mouth, full of lion-like teeth, as if they were two sets of real mouths before averting to normal! The fingernails and toes of Soul Red produced metallic red claws, and a golden lion symbol formed and emblazoned on his chest!

Soul Red got down on all fours and continued roaring, almost provoking the Newspaper Manticore!

————

Vaal felt something, "Soul DNA Act-Up… Li."

————

The other Soulrangers heard Vaal, Soul Blue contacted him telepathically, "_What's Soul DNA Act-Up?_" Vaal replied, "_It is when a need for more strength like a wild animal within the Soulranger occurs, new animal-like features appear on the Soulranger suits and helmets, etc. The power enhancing forces make the visor and mouth-plate seem like they're roaring. It's something like a combination of your Soulranger forms and Soul DNA Shape, and it's what Li's experiencing, you three can do it too, just focus on one of the animal genes that coexist inside you because of the Soul DNA_."

Soul Green says, "Let's summon that strength too!" He focused of the bull inside him as Meiru and Yuri respectively focus on the snake and eagle inside them.

Soul Green's eyes glowed bright green through the bull's head-shaped visor over them and the silvery human-like mouth-plate lets out a stream of steam as if it was an actual mouth before averting to normal! Soul Green's muscles dramatically bulked up to an extremely muscular level and a grey bull symbol formed and emblazoned on his chest!

Soul Yellow's eyes glowed bright yellow through the flying bird-like visor over her eyes flapped as if it was a bird's shadow before it averted back to normal! Soul Yellow's toenails produced metallic yellow claws, a lot of golden feathers sprouted from underneath her arms making them appear as both arms and wings, and a white eagle symbol formed and emblazoned on her chest!

Soul Blue's eyes glowed bright blue through the whale's tail fin-shaped visor over her eyes, which 'waved' before averting to normal! Soul Blue's blue suit flashed with signs of blue reptilian scales with black lines and a silver snake symbol formed and emblazoned on her chest!

Soul Green charged at Newspaper Manticore with great but blind fury of a bull, but the newspaper monster anticipated the attack, "**Front Page Capture**!" he pulled out a blank page of paper from behind him, and held it between him and the charging Soul Green. As Soul Green passed through the paper through Newspaper Manticore's matador act, the Soulranger disappeared!

Soul Blue and Soul Yellow became worried, "Where is Soul Green?" The blank human-sized piece of paper changed into a large page from a newspaper, revealing a picture of the missing Soul Green; the monster has turned one of their comrades into a picture on the front page!

Distracted by the girls' worry, the Newspaper Manticore monster was too distracted to notice Soul Red was right beside him, tackling him! The female Soulrangers came to the page with Soul Green, which has been dropped by Manticore earlier when he was tackled.

Soul Yellow said, "If only there were a way to get him back." Soul Green's thoughts were heard, "_I'm feeling a little dehydrated, but I'm still alive. I'm not the paper; it's just a portal that's been sealed by that monster. Now get me out of here!_" Soul Blue gulps, "Um… we don't know how." Soul Green's telepathic voice was heard, screaming out, "_WHAT?_"

Vaal sends a telepathic message to Soul Green, "_Use Soul DNA Act-Up, your elemental power is of Earth and plants are also under it._" The picture of Soul Green changed to his Soul DNA Act-Up form, feeling the paper shake, the girls stepped back and watched the page explode, as Soul Green broke free! Soul Green said, "Now to finish off that monster!"

Soul Red, meanwhile, was battling Newspaper Manticore. Soul Yellow opens Eagle Crossbow's wings and shouts out to Soul Red, "Get out of the way!" Soul Red leapt away from the monster, just in time for Soul Yellow to fire a powerful golden arrow of energy from the beak of her Soul Armament and strike the monster in the chest, leaving a gaping hole through it! With that defeat, the manticore exploded into a pile of newspaper clippings!

As they powered down from their Soul DNA Act-Up forms, Soul Yellow said, "I've certainly got the best weapon around!" Soul Red said, "Well, I don't believe who's better; as long as we're a team for one purpose: saving the world and its people." Soul Blue sighs and admits, "Soul Red is right, the more energy we waste in our fights, the weaker we will be when we face the Seven Deadly Forces."

Lusaten shows up and says to them "Way to defeat my monster, Soulrangers. But how can you destroy him when he comes back for revenge?" before disappearing into thin air!

Each of the scraps of newspaper clippings emitted a dark-violet aura, which soon expanded and merged with the aura of the others. The aura formed a black cloud, which became a _giant_ version of the late Newspaper Manticore!

Soul Yellow became worried, "I knew I should've thought of colossal assault vehicles to build!" Soul Blue asks, "Do we even _have_ enough space to create them?" Soul Red said, "We've got the Soul Familiars and Soul Mediums." Speaking of whom, the Soul Armaments changed back into Soul Familiars and Soul Mediums. Soul Green asks, "And _how_ do you propose we do that? We could run out of strength after attempting something like that!"

Red Lion said, "I wouldn't go there, fuel your power with your doubts and you won't even have the strength to do so; we must believe in our powers, and that includes not only us Soul Familiars but you too, Aniki-tachi." Soul Red thought about it, "Alright, Red Lion… let's do it! **Soul Force Infusion**!"

Placing his hand with his Red Wand over Red Lion, Red Lion took on an armored form before growing to an impossible size! Soul Red sat alone on top of his enlarged Soul Familiar's head! Red Lion, who's became more adult-like with a golden mane in this form, let out a mighty roar!

Newspaper Manticore pulled out a few shuriken/pinwheel fan-like weapons made from his special newspaper body, "**Newspaper Shuriken**!" the weapons sliced through sides of the buildings that they passed and kept on going toward their target; Red Lion.

Soul Red shouts out, "**Flame Breath Shield**!" Red Lion exhaled a stream of fire that become a dome-shaped shield made of fire in front of him burning the projectiles as soon as they came in contact. Surprisingly, Newspaper Manticore wasn't too pleased to be there. Soul Red shouts out, "**Heat Draw**!" red-glowing energy takes place around the city, Red Lion roared as he and his Soulranger draws in the energy, which proves to be all the heat in the city and in the air coming from the sun!

Newspaper Manticore folds out large paper wings on his back and flies away, hoping for safety… then in unison, Soul Red and Red Lion shout out, "**Fire Flash Smasher**!" then right from his opened mouth at the last second, a great maelstrom of red energy pours out in a torrential fiery beam shot at the monster, vaporizing him to ashes!

As the heat returns over Odaiba… Lusaten appears once again, he growls and says, "You may have won this battle, but our war goes on, Soulrangers! Even if there are four more of us to face!" he disappears in frustration.

The other Soulrangers leapt up on top of Red Lion's head with Soul Red and cheered for their victory. Soul Green's cheer for Soul Red was; "I've got to admit, you did well today, kid."

—————

Later, back in Elemental Four Café… Vaal sat silently in a seat in the volcano bar side as the Soulrangers were dressing in their rooms. He asks, "What's the whole point of this dressing up business?" Alpha Sword shrugs, "How am I supposed to know? Our base is underground of this café and one of our Soulrangers wanted to open this place for extra money." Beta Gun said, "But Vaal and I were the ones who planned on their living quarters on top." Gamma Wing said, "The dressing up is for this café's business, they have to look the parts if they want to look like workers here."

Li came out, in a fiery Hawaiian shirt with a volcano pin over the left breast and white cargo shorts complete with dark-blue flip-flop sandals, "Where does Yuri-kohai come up with her ideas? I look like a slacker who thinks everything's cool!"

Iwamaru walks out of the secret passage, in blue jeans and a green-and-black shirt with a green pine tree pin on the right side of his chest and a brown pair of lumberjack boots on his feet, "Supposedly, she got these for the theme for our café. And by the way, I've always thought of you like that, which really frustrated me."

Yuri shows up in her patented white lab coat over a cloud white blouse and a short sky-blue skirt, on her lab coat's right chest's side sat a rainbow pin, plus some pastel sneakers on her feet. She asks Li, "What's gotten into your head, Li-senpai?"

Meiru comes out of the secret passage in a watery dress with a white apron decorated in seashell pictures, "Perhaps he's mad at the fact I've poked at the fact that we've discovered something that upset him in the past that made him change since we've last seen him before we've become Soulrangers."

Li sighs, "Actually, ever since the warning of the Seven Deadly Forces from Kyamio; we've got more enemies than anyone in history, especially in power: Keia's got those astronauts captive, she may build up power in her rest, Kyamio is much stronger and him being in the premises makes everyone else around him fall to their knees in despair, he could be training himself or his Hell Clones to be stronger than before, and now Lusaten the demon monster maker is still out there probably building up on that power to create stronger monsters. Besides… if we're going to be a team that's going to save the world, we should live closer, in a way, and forget our personal differences if we're going to have to be stronger too."

Iwamaru sighs, "I have my doubts, but I'll agree with you on that." Yuri nods, "The robots are already helping me work on the scientific stuff downstairs, and the money we'll make through this café will surely help us out some." Meiru says, "Okay, I'll work with you until our war with the Seven Deadly Forces is done… but this is going to cost you another 500 thousand in American cash (58.8 million in Japanese yen)."

A knock on the front door alerted the Soulrangers! Vaal and the three robots hid into the cashier's counter, which had an elevator platform in its floor, and escaped into the underground base…

Li asks, "Did anybody pay for the bill you've used to remodel the place?" Iwamaru said, "Me and Meiru did, but I don't think it's them."

The four Soulrangers stood together and look puts on their best faces. Coming in from the front door was no one else than… Kurenai Tsuyoshi!

Li was surprised, "Boss?" Iwamaru, Yuri, and Meiru looked at their 'leader' in confusion, "Huh?" Tsuyoshi brightly smiles, "Good afternoon, everyone!"

Yuri was shocked, "Hey! How did you get a customer card?" Tsuyoshi held up a white card with the café's logo on it, in English and Japanese it also read 'Elemental Four Café Customer Card', "I'll pay for this card, I've found it on the streets and thought 'oh well, it may be better than McDonalds'."

Yuri realized, "_OH NO! It must've fallen out of my pocket when we were coming to your rescue, Li-sempai!_" Li quickly calms down, "That'll be 2,000 yen ($17.19), sir. I hope you won't mind me working here more often than at the delivery company!" Tsuyoshi shrugs, "Not at all."

The others couldn't believe it, their first customer ever is Li's boss! But Li went to work in the volcano bar working on chili and white rice for the customer. Iwamaru stood aghast at the customer, "How is this guy going to work as both a deliverer and a worker here?"

To be continued…


	3. Attack of the Killer Appliances

**Kouyou Sentai Soulranger**

**(Elemental Squadron Soulranger)**

———————

Vessel 3: Attack of the Killer Appliances

———————

It was a lovely day as usual…

Tsuyoshi came by the Elemental Four Café once again, for just his 7th time there, at that very noon. He brightly beamed, "Good morning, everyone."

It's four chefs; Li the fiery, Iwamaru the simple, Yuri the space age freak, and Meiru the cool, are having an all-out food-making war with each other——

Meiru is working with everything she's got in the seaside beach bar to prove that her sushi, sashimi, fruit recipes, shaved ice desserts, etc. are just as good as everyone else.

Yuri is checking a computer close to her for certain nutritional values and best taste factors while a few machines close to her are busily making what are apparently pieces of space food.

Iwamaru, who has never cooked before, is looking over a cookbook to see how everything's done. But so far his best are nothing but salads, and other simple stuff like that.

Li is showing off incredible cooking talents by cooking not only Japanese dishes, but some foreign ones as well.

Unfazed by their apparent competition, Tsuyoshi said with a smile, "I think I'll take one order from each bar." First he went to Meiru's section, "Young lady, please fix me some albacore sushi with a medium-sized fruit cup." Meiru replies, "Okay, sir. But I'm going to have to charge you 2000 yen."

Then he moved onto Yuri's section, "4 packs of your space pizza." Yuri shrugs, "Pepperoni and pineapple as usual?" Tsuyoshi nods, "Yes, please." Meiru thought-spoke to Li, "_Honestly, Li. Your boss at Sonic Bird Express is by far the most unusual eater at his age on this planet_!" Li thought-spoke back, "_I've experienced that for 5 years now_."

Then to Iwamaru's section, "So… what's on the special list, Mr. Yamahouku?" Iwamaru nervously hands a menu to Tsuyoshi, "Those on the menu are those that I've perfected. So please choose." Tsuyoshi laughs a bit, "Don't be so worked up about it, I'll have the Aniki Salad for one."

Then to Li's section, Tsuyoshi said to Li, "I've asked Naitsumuka-san to substitute for you today." After flipping a pan pizza into the air like a pancake and catching it in the pan again, Li asked, "Eh? You mean our coffee girl Ichigo-san? Is she even up for the challenge?" Yuri overheard the conversation, "Eh? Naitsumuka Ichigo-chan is your coffee girl at Sonic Bird Express?" Li nods, "Yeah, she decided to work for us when she saw me. I think she has a bit of a crush on me."

Meiru gets a sly look in her eyes, "Then you should date her to make her feel wonderful." Li gulps, "Are you sure?" Yuri shrugs, "Why not? When you're not working here, you're usually working at the delivery company." Li sternly frowns, "Not a chance; it's a likely chance I'll be dating her when the kitchen appliances in the city started to move on their own."

————

In a distant and abandoned warehouse… a mechanical green hand was placing parts together. That hand was connected to a body of metal that looks virtually similar to Dracula outfit only made of metal and the ankle-length cape that is metallic brown. The figure's face resembles that of robotic red bat but with a curved dark violet visor over its face.

He said, "Soon this new attachment for my body will be complete."

—————

Back in the Elemental Four Café, Tsuyoshi left with a doggy bag, happily saying "No more McDonald's frozen yogurt tonight."

Li places another piece of food in a package, just to keep it from cooling off or spoiling. Yuri gleefully finishes counting the yen, "12,000 yen ($101.53)! I don't care where your boss at Sonic Bird Express get this kind of cash, but he sure is loaded."

Iwamaru groans, "Well I do." Meiru nods, "Yeah, me too. And I never had to pay for any meal I've ordered for delivery from that company for anything over 4,728 yen ($40)." Li replies, "I've met Kurenai-san when I've… well… ran away from home 8 years ago, I needed an education and some way to support myself, so he hired me as a smalltime coffee boy. All the sudden, two weeks later, business started going north. Kurenai-san even helped me with my homework."

Meiru slyly asks, "You mean you never did your homework?" Li said, "No, I did do my homework… it's like ever since I've met him, he's like a grandfather I've never had." Yuri gasps in surprise but still smiles, "You mean him with you during those days was like me with Aneki?" Li said, "Yeah, I work for him for a while and he'd help me get to my own feet so I'll travel the world for answers."

Iwamaru asks, "What kind of answers?" Li turns a bit gloomy, "That's a story for another day." Yuri and Meiru looked at each other in a confused expression, "Huh?" Iwamaru and Meiru thought-spoke to each other in unison, "_Where on Earth did Li dig up that old fossil_?"

Suddenly, a young girl with sparkling black hair came by restaurant, Yuri must've sold to her a customer pass card; she was extremely beautiful for her age of 17. Iwamaru gulps nervously, "Who is she?" Meiru nods, "Yeah, I've never seen her before." Yuri and Li said in unison, "That's Naitsumuka Ichigo." Meiru exclaimed in thought-speech, "_WHOA! I'd thought she'd be a little more plump than that, guess I was wrong_."

She came in with a package for Yuri, "Well… I've got your order of ingredients and on-line bought items, Yuri-chan." Yuri pulled out her wallet, "How much will it be, Ichigo-chan?" Ichigo checked her cell phone, "According to my first time delivering this, I believe it should be… 720,000 yen ($6,091.38)." Li asks, "Can you even afford that, kohai?" Yuri handed the cash to Ichigo, "It's part of the deal, senpai."

Ichigo spots Li, "I guess I'll stay for a cup of tea while I'm here." Li sighs, "Very well." While trying to turn the stove on which is failing to light up, Li blocked her sight with his body so he could make the stove behave with a snap of his fingers, creating a spark. He asks the current customer, "What flavor would you like?" Ichigo replies, "I'll have jasmine with a touch of honey."

Meiru tosses a packet of apple flower honey to Ichigo who caught it abruptly, almost getting close to fall on her face; but thanks to Li, that didn't happen since he caught her by the shoulders gently. He glared at Meiru, "_Listen_, _no matter what you're scheming, you can't keep secrets from us: you speak in thought too loudly, and Yuri-kohai told me what you were planning._" Then he helped Ichigo upright in her seat as he poured her tea.

—————

Later that night, Yuri was in the laboratory down below, working in Soulranger form… lately the robot trio let her study the technology they have with them.

"Now that the construction of my mecha are finished," says Soul Yellow, "it's now time for me to remove the Soul Badge and use it for the use of this new machine." Vaal instantly came to her from behind——

——————

At this time… Li was looking in his Sonic Bird Express delivery schedule for tomorrow while in bed, Iwamaru was taking a shower, and Meiru was reading magazines full of attractive and muscular men.

——————

"IDIOT!" shouted Vaal's _booming_ voice throughout the entire Odaiba district, which trembled as if it were in the middle of an earthquake!

——————

That same 'earthquake' coming from Vaal's shout caused Li to jump and hit the carpet in his room, Iwamaru to slip on the wet floor in the shower and hit his head on the floor, and Meiru to tear the magazine she was reading in shock from Vaal's ground-shaking shout!

——————

The other Soulrangers came downstairs (Li is in plain red pajamas, Iwamaru is in nothing but a green towel, and Meiru is in blue brassiere & panties) to see what Vaal was yelling at Yuri about.

Soul Yellow, sent back towards the wall and floor while changing into DNA-Shaper Yellow (the name of Yuri's Soul DNA Shape), whimpers out, "What was I doing wrong?" Vaal explains, "The Soul Badge is what keeps you alive out there in battle by drawing on the Soul Force inside you carefully and prevents power overload. Power overload is when you draw on excess energy levels from areas outside your body and soul. If you were in Soulranger form and it were removed, you will die but only because of removing it in the first place!" DNA-Shaper Yellow bowed, "I'm so sorry!"

Li was surprised, "I've always had a feeling that removing the Soul Badge would be a terrible idea." Iwamaru froze in his place, before he collapsed to the ground (while still being stiff as a statue)!

—————

In her own bathtub in her own flat in the upper levels of the Café, Meiru baths… she sadly looks into her hand, then into her Soul DNA Mark on her inner thigh. Now that she has her genes modified along with nanoscopic machines inside of her, her own Soul DNA; if her Soul Badge was ever removed in Soulranger form, she won't live to see another day. So if the 7 Deadly Forces found out about this, they'd do whatever they could to kill her and her comrades.

She felt something hard pushing against her body; she looked and found chunks of ice in the water, surprisingly the cold from the ice doesn't bother her at all. Vaal communicated to Meiru in thoughts, "_The sadness you're feeling about the thought of death because of your Soul Badge becoming removed has granted you the ability to manipulate ice._" Meiru was amazed, "I can freeze things now? Whoa!"

—————

In the dark warehouse, the mysterious robotic 'Dracula' stands before a computer he built into a main factorial machine as new materials are being made. He said, "This information on an old but very strong and long-lasting car battery and the information the latest robot brain in technology has given me an idea for my first Attack-bot." He pressed 'enter' and the machine went to work on the construction of a humanoid automaton.

—————

Next morning, as Li was heading off to deliver some packages for his other job at Sonic Bird Express…

He saw an elderly woman with red marks on her wrist, he stops by her and asks, "What's wrong, madam?" She looks at him with eyes full of tears, "I was about to call my granddaughter on the telephone when all of the sudden, the phone came to life and attacked me." Li tries to reassure and comfort her, "Are you sure it's not a bad dream?" but when he got a careful look at the look in her eyes, he knew it was a feeling of fear and she's telling the truth. Li growls a bit, "I'm going to investigate, so please be careful."

Before he even left to do so, she said to him, "Wait! You'll need the address!"

—————

Li arrived to the white house at the address where the elderly woman lives at, he checked the door, which is unlocked and open, just to find a telephone that looks like it smashed itself open from the inside with the wires inside it extended outward as if it was a mechanical jellyfish.

A small green dust devil came into the house from the open door and turned into Iwamaru, he gasps for breath and says, "I think I'm getting the hang of this transportation thing." Li asks, "So, show me the whole psychometry, buddy." Iwamaru regained himself, "Don't call me 'buddy', I was about to start the tactile ESP insight."

Iwamaru touched the telephone and paused for a bit until he spoke to Li, "This telephone attacked the grandmother that lives in this residence. But it's not the work of Kyamio nor Lusaten or Keia… but someone of the Seven Deadly Forces… but some mechanical monstrosity… built by someone skilled with technology, or as Yuri would call it; mad science."

Li said, "Let's contact the girls and tell them about this." Iwamaru nods, "Right." The two contacted the female Soulrangers with telepathy…

Yuri got the message from Li firsthand, "_Huh? Someone able to cause a telephone come to life and attack its owner?_" Iwamaru replied in thought-speech, "_Yeah, from what I could tell its creator is like a off-colored mechanical Dracula with a red robotic bat face._"

Meiru replied in response, "_Sounds like my grandfather's first girlfriend_."

Iwamaru told them, "_I've identified its location and what it looks like._" Li said, "_Well, let's go before more innocent souls get hurt!_" Iwamaru looks at Li and quickly nods, "_For once, agreed. But first… I must show you three what it looks like and this mechanical Dracula look like in your individual points of view._"

The Soulrangers got the mental image, Meiru replied, "_Most of those images seem a bit off_. _But the mastermind behind this case does look a bit like off-colored mechanical Dracula with a red robotic bat face_." Yuri was excited, "_Wow! Must be one of the 7 Deadly Forces; as far as we know, Keia uses magical cards, Kyamio doesn't have the time for something like this, and Lusaten uses magic to curse items to become monsters._"

Li asks Yuri, "_Why are you excited, Kohai_?" Meiru replies, "_Yuri-chan is a science fiction fanatic_. _Iwamaru-san and Li, take care of the situation and we'll catch up; she's working with robot trio on new mecha for us_."

—————

Like couple of racing dogs, the male Soulrangers rushed into Odaiba, to find thousands of appliances roaming the streets like swarms of animals. Li & Iwamaru were shocked to see that those very household tools were hurting everyone!

Iwamaru asks, "How are these appliances getting so much power since they're being controlled by something else?" A row of blenders hopped in the front row before the Soulranger men and their blades spun at them, but surprisingly they created tornadoes that sent them flying backwards!

Iwamaru was surprised, "I didn't know blenders could do that." Li said, "It's not the blenders; it's that mechanical being we're chasing after! Now let's move before we get baked by those moving microwaves!" Iwamaru looks around curiously as Li gets up and run, seeing the microwave ovens blasting waves of heat at them, Iwamaru stood his ground!

Not wanting to expose his identity to the public, Li was running from the danger so he could transform into Soul Red and then fight. He relayed his plan to Iwamaru, who responded with, "_D'OH! Okay, I get your plan! Just wait until I'm cooled off a bit!_" Li called back, "_Okay, I'll be waiting, buddy._" Iwamaru called back, "_Don't call me 'buddy'!_"

Li found a nice to hide out so he could morph; right in the tree in front of a business building. He hopped from the ground to the branches and got ready to morph when something unexpected happened… Ichigo came running out of the building with a robotic being walking out of it. She trips and comes facing up at her electronic pursuer——

The arms and legs of the robot chasing Ichigo appears to be built up of all sorts of batteries while the hips, torso, and head are made of three large different supercomputers, the smallest being the head. He said in a computerized voice, "It's about time you'd stop, little human; for trying to save a bunch of your own kind from my vacuum cleaner troopers, you're going to pay."

Ichigo pants and shouts, "Having turned ordinary pieces of our own items into enemies is unforgivable! Especially to that family you were threatening!" Li silently says to Ichigo, so quietly that she couldn't possibly hear him, "That's a good way to buy your own death wish, Ichigo-san."

The battery-armed monster raised his arms at Ichigo with his battery fingers at her, static electricity sparked from his fingertips and got increasingly more powerful at each passing moment, "This is the end. **Electro Smash**." The electricity formed a ball of lightning in his palms and he threw it at Ichigo——

Li rushed in and Li got Ichigo out of the way before it hit her! Under cover of the other closest tree, Li said to Ichigo, "Ichigo-san, get going! It's not safe here!" Ichigo blushes and says to him, "Yes, sir!" as she got up and ran away. Li took the opportunity he had to transform——

He quietly calls out, "**Soul Badge**!" his Soul Badge formed into his hand, he placed them over his Soul DNA Mark and shouts out, "**Soul Force unlock**…" and presented it forward in his palm, shouting out, "**SOUL HENSHIN**!"

Li stood in the middle of an ocean of fire; he exploded into a humanoid figure of red fire! Flame came erupting from around him and within… as the flames calmed down… his body is suited into a green suit with white gloves and boots! A white-colored belt appeared and had his Soul Badge appear onto it like a belt buckle, with a holster on both sides of the belt. A gentle shower of sparks came down on him, creating a red helmet over his head; the visor is like a lion's gaping jaws. He positioned herself in a fire-based kata, with a beautiful display of fireworks popping in the background!

Soul Red stood before the robotic monster; who asks, "Who are you?" Soul Red says, "The name's Red—— Soul Red." Pumping with courage, Soul Red charged at the robot, which is blasting electricity at him from his hands, but Li was seemingly unaffected as he battled on with the robot. Soul Red thought to himself, "_Man_, _this electric mayhem's going to make short work of me if I'm not too careful with him. Thankfully, the Soulranger suit's defense ability depending on my soul's strength, I was able to withstand 90 of the attack. But it's too early for the others to get involved with this situation_."

Soul Green came back to back with Soul Red, Soul Red asks, "How things going, buddy? You're not hurt, are ya?" Soul Green replies, "Just fine, bro." Soul Red notices the strange behavior of his fellow Soulranger; he turns around and shouts "**Soul Fist**!" The enlightened punch knocked Soul Green flying into a concrete wall, therefore cracking it.

Soul Green asks "Why'd… why'd you do that… to your own teammate?" Soul Red answers, "Because you're not the real Soul Green; of all the times I've referred to him as 'buddy', 'partner', etc. he always says, 'don't call me that!' and besides, his Soulranger suit isn't made up of metal fabric!" Another Soul Green showed up, "Whoa! A copycat? What's this guy's true form?"

Soul Red says, "If I had x-ray vision I'd tell ya what he was, buddy." Soul Green threw an accusing finger at Soul Red, "Don't call me that!" The first Soul Green growled as his body shifted into a Dracula-like robotic form, the one behind the killer appliances.

Soul Green says, "That's him! That's the guy who created that robot!" Soul Red said, "He's got an evil aura, meaning that he's one of the 7 Deadly Forces! But who is he anyway?"

The robotic Dracula got to his feet and said, "I am the Overlord of the Cyber-Terror Invasion Force, Neo-Novus!" Soul Red jokes, "Makes it sound like your name means 'new novice'." Neo-Novus growled out, "Damn you, kid!"

Neo-Novus pulled out a gray-colored grenade-like orb with a small black knob on it, he turned the knob on it, and it flashed green. "Cyber-Terror Android Grenade, go!" he tosses it into the air and it exploded into 144 human-sized robots raining down on the two Soulrangers! They are each mostly green and bronze-colored androids with round-shaped heads and blunt-looking armor.

Neo-Novus said, "My Cyber-Terror Androids; they have no fear and feel no pain, but best of all: they only obey me and my attack-bots, like Animator here."

A pair of familiar female voices shouted in unison, "491; magnetic beams, fire!" The robotic soldiers were pulled away from the male Soulrangers by a pair of red-and-blue beams and then they became limp. Soul Red and Soul Green get up, recovering from the metallic pig pile, and find Soul Yellow and Soul Blue coming to the rescue with their Soul Sticks, each in Laser Gun mode, out.

Soul Green said, "Um… we've had the situation under control." Soul Blue asks, "_Then who was it that got blown away by blenders, blasted by microwave ovens, almost got burned by rampaging electric waffle irons, hosed down by food processors, run over by vacuum cleaners, and other pathetic if not amusing exploits involving killer appliances_?" Soul Green got nervous, "_Well… I couldn't destroy them; people would be mad if their own machinery that they live everyday by having them destroyed, plus they're very expensive_." Soul Red says, "Stop the arguing and get ready to use the magnetic beams on Animator!"

Soul Blue performed a back-flip before 'swimmingly' danced on the spot like a dolphin, "The wisdom and force from the pure heart; the soul of the water element, Soul Blue!"

Soul Yellow spins in a pirouette on one toe with her arms outstretched like wings, "The intellect and purity of the tempest of joy; the soul of the air element, Soul Yellow!"

Soul Green slams his fist to the ground and showed off his muscles a bit, "The stability and fertility of the sacred ground; the soul of the earth element, Soul Green!"

Soul Red quickly spins three times, stops, then spreads out his arms like wings, "The strength and power of the holy sun fire and light; the soul of the fire element, Soul Red!"

Together, they shout out in unison, "Together our combined elemental souls create a whole new universe!" Soul Red and Soul Green stood beside each other as Soul Blue stood beside Soul Red and Soul Yellow stood beside Soul Green. Finally, they shout out, "Kouyou Sentai Soulranger!"

Then they pulled out their Soul Sticks, setting them into Laser Gun mode, and typed in the codes "491." The weapons said in unison, "Magnetic beam." Soul Yellow and Soul Red fire on Neo-Novus, who was still there, but he was unaffected by the magnetic beams. Soul Blue and Soul Green's magnetic beams were deflected by the electric field he made with his fingertips.

Soul Yellow was shocked, "I don't believe it! He must have some type of plastic protecting him from magnetic forces." Soul Green asks, "Then how the hell is it that his attack-bot doesn't appear to carry an ounce of plastic?" Animator answers, "Simply put; any electronic device can create a magnetic field, just not a very big one. Since my arms and legs are somewhat of powerful containers of electricity, I can create an electricity-based force field with a touch of magnetism, making myself capable of deflecting your magnetic beams."

Soul Yellow points up in the air at the discovery, "_That makes a lot of sense_." Soul Green, aghast, says to them, "_I'm sorry_… _I've_… _sort of flunked some of my science classes enough to not know_ that." Soul Blue thought of something then says, "I need a distraction! Soul Red, think you can open that fire hydrant?" Soul Red nods to her, "I'm on it!"

Like a shot, Soul Red dashed for the red fire hydrant closest to them and opens it, letting a lot of water rush out!

Soul Blue comes to his location, but Soul Red notices something weird, so pulls her over the rushing water and begins attacking her. The Soul Blue with him changes into Neo-Novus, Soul Red, "Think of a new strategy, do it when none of them are near me, Neo-_Novice_." Neo-Novus growls out, "My name is Neo-Novus!"

Back with the real Soul Blue, she waves her arms around, as if she's calling the water to her with hand signals, they worked! Soul Yellow was impressed, "_When were you able to perform hydrokinesis_?" Soul Blue answers, "_Since after we've battled Lusaten_." She then formed the water like a serpent spiraling around her body; she turns to Green and asks him, "Can you try to find a way to break through that force field?" Iwamaru thinks about it and looks to his Soul Blade, "I've got a better idea!"

Soul Green pulls out his Soul Blade and charges at Animator, he throws an electrical blast attack at Soul Green, but then the oncoming Soulranger said, "**Boulder Barricade**!" within a few green flashes boulders, each the size of people, blocked each bolt from the monster. Soul Green then cuts the barricade up into small pieces and punched them into large projectiles crashing into Animator's arms and legs!

Witnessing the deep cracks in all of his battery-grafted limbs the flying boulders have caused, Animator shrieks, "NO! You've destroyed my electro-generators!" Soul Green shouts, "Now, Soul Blue!" She directed her serpent made up of water at the enemy automaton damaged by Soul Green and soaked him down. Animator says, "A lot of good soaking me is going to do you, I've got water-resistant circuits since my lord Neo-Novus has expected to see you, Soulrangers."

Soul Blue struck a palm out at Animator and said, "**Flash Frost**!" the water on Animator placed him in a truck-sized block of ice. Soul Blue nods to Soul Green, "He's all yours, Green." Soul Green nods back, then lands a mighty punch to the ice, shattering it with his great strength, and Animator along with it. Soul Yellow was impressed, "Excellent, Aneki; cryokinesis!" Soul Blue says, "Now let's help Soul Red."

Back in the battle with Soul Red and Neo-Novus, both are equally matched, with each blow from one a block is met from the other. Neo-Novus said, "You're pretty good for a human." Soul Red replies, "Actually, my comrades and I are post-human!" Neo-Novus said, "Ah… someone like me." Soul Red says, "We're nothing like you."

Neo-Novus looks at his fallen Androids, his eyes flashed brightly several times, and then the Androids get back to their feet, as if they were no longer hurt by the magnetic beams! Neo-Novus said, "You may be able to erase their memory and programming, therefore shutting them down, but they can easily be revived by me." Then he jumped up into the sky, flying from the battle.

Soul Red growls, "Damn! Another one of the Seven Deadly Forces, and he gets away!" Soul Green nods, "Yeah, worst yet he can change himself into anyone he chooses!" Soul Yellow pulls out her Soul Stick and sets it in Laser Gun mode, "Let's take care of these Androids first!"

Soul Yellow types in 269 and her weapon said, "Bomber Bullets." She fires her weapon at the Androids, firing bullets of red energy that explode on impact and penetration, destroying half of them. Soul Green pulls out his Soul Stick in Sonic Sword mode and types in 28563, the weapon says "Sonic Frequency 28563." Just like that, every time he slashes an Android, it falls into pieces.

Soul Blue flips around and freezes each Android in a block of ice with each stab with her Soul Blade, after she lands into a clearing they exploded. Soul Red typed in 808318, it said "Elemental Smash." Then with each Android he smashed his weapon against (without damaging the crystal blade in any way whatsoever), fire exploded from their bodies fell apart with each blow.

After they were finished, the remnants of the Androids exploded into more pieces of junk. Soul Yellow looks back at them, "I could use these pieces of their remains for my new inventions." Soul Red says, "Yeah… and save up some cash for your expenses with Soul Blue." Soul Green asks, "What on Earth were you two doing?" Soul Blue answers, "I was taking care of business with my patients as usual, and Soul Yellow-chan was studying on command codes for our Soul Sticks while inventing a new friend; a small robot we call Scottie."

The male Soulrangers asks in unison, "Scottie?" Soul Yellow answered, "It's a miniscule scout robot who can assist Alpha Sword, Beta Gun, and Gamma Wing back at the laboratory base." Soul Red asks, "Why'd you called it 'Scottie'?" Soul Yellow shrugs, "Well, I've accidentally given him a voice chip that makes him speak with the Japanese dub voice of Scottie from 'Star Trek', plus he's really cute." Soul Blue sighs in admiration, "Plus since he was cute, we sometimes call him 'Scottie-Chan'." Soul Green groans, "Damn, and I don't understand any other language except for Japanese."

Soul Red spots a pair of red energy beams melting the chunks ice off the shards of Animator, "Guys, look!" The Soulrangers spot Neo-Novus producing the beams from his eyes at his Attack-bot's shards. After he was finished, the shards crackled with electricity and pulled themselves together, forming a whole-new Animator; only he's restored to a point like he was never damaged! Soul Green gasps, "What the hell?" Soul Yellow theorizes, "The special energy source inside of him must still had enough juice left to grant him more power than before."

Neo-Novus says to her, "Actually, the energy source is of my specially; designed to power up an entire planet for 100 years. If shattered, it will overload and the energy will become one with the components until the carrier has completely regenerated. At that point, the excess energy will merge and cause the molecules of the nonliving materials they made contact with to multiply by 45 times their original amount and the power output will be multiplied by 5 million more than before."

Soul Yellow exclaims, "In other words——" the revived Animator suddenly went from his actual size to 360 feet! "He's revived, enlarged almost 50 times his original size, and empowered to a point that's too powerful for what we have compared to his size!" finished Soul Yellow. Soul Green said, "He was 8 feet high before, but now he's… 360 feet high?"

Soul Red asks, "Did you find enlarging rays, kohai?" Soul Yellow shakes her head, "No, not yet." Soul Blue asks, "What about the Soul Mecha? Do you think they're going to work, Yellow-chan?" The male Soulrangers look confused, "Soul Mecha?" Soul Yellow said, "I've built us the Soul Mecha in cases we may need to battle massive monsters like him."

Soul Green pretends to think about and says immediately, "We'll use them!" Soul Yellow tells her friends, "Vaal told me how to contact them from anywhere using our Soul Force." Soul Red says, "Let's summon them then."

Soul Yellow says to them, "Wait, to do that, call on their names; yours is Soul Mecha Solar Liger Ozai, Sempai. Soul Green's is Soul Mecha Iron Bison Appus. Mine is Soul Mecha Tempest Eagle Nari. And Blue-Aneki's is Soul Mecha Tidal Orca Mari." They called forth the Mecha!

Right from out of the sea shot out four animal-shaped blasts of colored light, those lights formed into gigantic mechanical animals——

Soul Mecha Solar Liger Ozai is like a red mechanical lion with a large golden mane topped off with black stripes like a tiger. On its back are a couple of long blaster weapons.

Soul Mecha Iron Bison Appus is like a massive mechanical green bison with a pair of silver horns. Appus is pulling a large green wagon or chariot from behind.

Soul Mecha Tempest Eagle Nari is like a yellow-colored eagle mecha with a white-colored head. In its claws, it's holding onto a large triangular shield similar to a Soul Badge.

Soul Mecha Tidal Orca Mari is an orca whale mecha with the black replaced with blue. Two smaller blue shark-like pods and a blue manta ray mecha on its back carry it through the air.

Soul Green became dumbfounded, "They seem… a bit… odd." Soul Red says, "Regardless of how odd they may seem, we've got to use them!" Soul Blue nods, "Agreed." Soul Green recovered, "Okay, this is for everyone we have to protect!" Soul Yellow became excited, "Let's go!"

They shout, "**Soul Leap**!" then they leap to the heads of their individual mecha, which prove to be incredibly larger than they've ever ridden on before. They dove into the doors found on their individual mecha; Soul Red's is in the forehead of Ozai, Soul Green's is in the chariot pulled by Appus, Soul Yellow's is in a cockpit on Nari's head, and Soul Blue's is on the manta ray on Mari's back.

The cockpit in Ozai is similar to riding his motorcycle, only from within the medium-sized cockpit of a spacecraft. The cockpit in Appus' chariot is similar to driving a bovine-driven wagon, only with a vast array of control panels around him. The cockpit on Nari is similar to that of a harrier jet. The cockpit on Mari is similar to that within a small submarine.

In each cockpit, a beam of light came out came in contact of the orb in the Soul Badges, afterwards the mecha became more active as if they were alive, but still under the command of their respective Soulranger!

Neo-Novus said, "Don't get your hopes up, Soulrangers. I've expected something like this to happen; when you believe that you cannot risk that energy of yours to increase the size of your Soul Familiars, you'd resort to using mecha."

Animator held out his hands at the Soul Mecha, producing red waves at them. Soul Yellow gulps, "That must be how he got control of the appliances in Odaiba!" Soul Red braces himself, "Try to resist the rejection!" Soul Blue says, "We're history!" Soul Green sighs, "Thanks anyway, Soul Yellow." The Soulrangers prepared for the worst…

Amazingly, the Soul Mecha shook it off like it was nothing! Soul Yellow exclaimed, "The energy wavelengths from our Soul Badge connection engines terminated Animator's machine controller waves?" Soul Green was confused, "Huh?" Soul Blue says, "I think that means the Soul Mecha are too powerful to be controlled by Animator."

Neo-Novus exclaimed, "What the? This is IMPOSSIBLE!"

Soul Red gripped hard onto the handle, as he was grinning with under his helmet, "Okay, let's finish Animator's termination!"

Soul Green shouts, "Oh yeah! **Bull Running Tackle**!" Steam erupted from Appus' nostrils before he charged forth at Animator's chest, headfirst. The incredible strength, power, and force from the single tackle attack sent the Attack-Bot flying!

Soul Yellow, Nari, Soul Blue, & Mari waited for their chance as Animator came close enough to them. Soul Yellow shouts, "Let's shoot him down, Aneki!" Soul Blue nods, "Right, Yellow-chan!" they shout together, "**Twin Soul Missile Barrage**!" a hailing storm of missiles flew from the shark pods and under the wings of their mecha and dealt heavy damage to Animator!

He then comes crashing down like a flaming meteor, with Soul Red and Ozai waiting in the wings to deliver the final blow. Soul Red says, "Solar energy collected, plasma weaponry charged, ion cannons ready to fire, turbine energizers in the red, anchor claws attached, and Soul Force to full force… target lock in 5… 4——"

Soul Blue shouts, "3——"

Soul Yellow shouts, "2——"

Soul Green shouts, "1——"

Soul Red finishes, "**Firestorm Mega Smasher**!" as he lets go of the main trigger and unleashes a heavy barrage of energy blasts from Ozai's weapons and blows Animator into outer space and destroys him completely!

Neo-Novus exclaimed, "This is not possible! My special Cyber-Terror Battery cannot work a second time, all it can do is restore the ecosystem and atmosphere this miserable over-carbonated excuse of a planet! I've even theorized the possible interference of the Soulrangers perfectly! Doesn't matter, whatever the envious technology they have, it will be discovered somehow… by me, and by that they… they will fall." His cape converted into wings as he flew off!

Soul Green says, "Man, I love this bison!" Soul Red asks, "Yellow-kohai… where on Earth _did_ you get this technology?" Soul Yellow said, "Vaal and the robots provided me with most of the materials and half the technology, Ichigo-chan delivered the last bits of needed materials, and the rest of the technology beforehand… came to me in a dream. However the rest and the mecha's design are mine."

Suddenly, the sky started to open up. Soul Blue asks, "What in the world's… going… on?"

——————

In the mountains of Japan, Kyamio sensed the phenomenon, "What is this incredible power?"

——————

Even Vaal and the robots sensed what was going on, "What… the… hell?"

——————

All of the sudden, right from out of the mysterious opening in the sky; a gigantic and mysterious golden serpentine dragon-like mecha that appears and looks down at the Soul Mecha. Soul Green ask, "What the hell? Did we just make Animator even stronger?" Soul Yellow shakes her head, "No… this is something else entirely."

Soul Red feels a little weird, "That's strange. It's got incredible power yet I'm getting a strange feeling that it's not here to attack us." Beams shot out from the dragon's eyes and transported the Soulrangers out of the Soul Mecha and to the ground where they've leapt from earlier.

Soul Yellow points at the Soul Mecha, "It's taking away our Soul Mecha!" Everyone looks to find the Soul Mecha float away with the dragon. Soul Red leaps up to the dragon and calls to it, "Wait!"

Suddenly… a bright light enveloped the Soulrangers along with the dragon and Soul Mecha.

——————

The Soulrangers found themselves in a new world, a world with peaceful blue skies and floating islands of many varieties. But the strangest thing of all was the wavy golden rivers down below, because they look very similar to the body of the mecha dragon that was taking away the Soul Mecha.

The Soulrangers looked behind them to find the dragon and turned completely to face him. Soul Red asks, "Who are you?" The dragon spoke in a godlike yet calm voice, "I am Soul Mecha Master Carrier Dragon Draco. You may call me 'Draco'."

Soul Red & Soul Blue exclaimed in unison, "Another Soul Mecha?" Soul Green & Soul Yellow follow, "A Master Carrier Dragon?" Together, the Soulrangers finish, "Draco?"

Draco says, "I'm taking the Soul Mecha because I've been made to. I appear from my dimensional home to overlook things in other dimensions where Soulrangers are involved. I've been around as long as all other Soulrangers have been, 7 eons ago." Soul Blue was surprised, "7 billion years ago?" Draco nods before he continues, "Even though I am technically a machine, I have an actual personality, having a history of others calling me hotheaded and proud yet kindhearted and caring; and a soul, that was spiritually cloned from the soul of the Draco constellation." Soul Green asks, "Hence 'Draco'?" Draco nods before continuing again, "I house Soul Mecha inside my carrier sections when they're not needed, I can also repair and recharge all Soul Mecha when they're housed inside me. But when you do need them, I will appear and they will come to you." Soul Yellow understands, "Oh! So that's why you're taking them; you're a gargantuan one-person Soul Mecha sitter/doctor." Draco nods, "Exactly."

Soul Red calls to him, "Wait!" then asks "You said you overlook things involving Soulrangers, can you look into the past or something?" Draco says, "You'll have to find the answers you're looking for some other time, Soul Red. But as a sign of gratitude for your first successful battle, I bring you and Soul Blue gifts."

In Soul Blue and Soul Red's hands appeared metal orbs with Soul Badge marks on them. "Soul Familiar Capsules?" asks Soul Red. Soul Blue says, "Red's got one and I've got four." They opened them to reveal the Soul Familiars inside; a red liger cub (kitten-sized), a blue baby orca whale (no bigger than an albacore tuna), a blue manta ray (Frisbee-sized), a blue shark, and a blue saw shark (both this and previous no bigger than carp).

Draco said to the Soulrangers, "Ever Soul Red proved to be the most mature out of all of you and two of your missing Soulranger comrades have been found, the Soul Familiar Eggs began self-incubating." Soul Green asks, "The other two? Do they have their Soul Badges yet?" Draco shook his head, "No, but you must bring their Soul Badges with you and look for their Soul DNA Marks. It took me a while to _grow up_ as you call it, but it was worthwhile. Just like Soul Blue learned her cryokinesis just because she was understanding how important the Soul Badges are when you're in Soulranger form."

Soul Red asks, "So we gain new powers by experiencing something that we haven't yet, if a certain virtue of ours inside of us has awakened, if we spiritually grow up, get over something we've been experiencing lately or embrace it, have some extremely emotional moment, and/or get alone better amongst ourselves?" Draco nods, "That is correct."

The Soulrangers look at each other… Iwamaru is _still_ trying to get over his fear of women even though he's working with two and he doesn't exactly accept Li as a friend yet. Meiru has a problem with her falling in love at the drop of a hat but also only sees Li as a comrade in battle for she's scared of what he may do against her in the future. Li feels completely alone around Iwamaru and Meiru, even though Yuri is friendly to him, and he is desperate to know about his past. Yuri is with the grownups and is accepted, but inside she feels rejected because of all the horror they're bringing to themselves and fears that they may target her too someday.

Soul Red looks up Draco and says, "I don't care about what evils stand in our way, not even the 7 Deadly Forces, but I will look to them for help; Iwamaru's strength of body and will, Yuri's inventive skills and her joyful spirit, and Meiru's heart and compassion for others."

Soul Green gets up to face Draco, "Li may be a pain in the ass for me; but he has the ability to tell the difference between the real thing and Neo-Novus just by looking at them. Yuri and Meiru give me some goose bumps, but I trust them and their skills."

Soul Yellow jumps into line and faces Draco, "Sempai, Iwamaru-san, and Aneki are always scary when they argue with each other… but that doesn't mean I'm giving up on keeping us together if it means saving our beloved world or any other world from evil."

Soul Blue boldly says to Draco, "Seeing how this world and the innocent souls on it are all depending on the four of us; including the annoying but troubled Rosuto Li, the gynophobic but extremely helpful Iwamaru, strange yet wonderful Yuri-chan, and me… there's nothing that will stop me from saving it."

Draco says, "Soon… the four of you will find all of your abilities, just stay together and learn more about each other and yourselves from within, find your Soul Familiars and missing Soulranger comrades, and find innocence and protect them. For now… farewell."

—————

FLASH! Draco flew off into the opening in the sky before it too disappeared, leaving the human form Soulrangers staring up at the sky bravely.

Suddenly, Ichigo and the elderly woman that Li helped earlier came by.

—————

In the Elemental Four Café, Li was asked out by Ichigo, so Iwamaru is following a book to prepare the Soulranger leader for the date, which the elderly woman (who turned out to be Ichigo's grandmother, with whom she lives with) set up for taking care of her and heroically saving Ichigo.

Iwamaru's voice was heard throughout the walls, "Hold still, will ya?" Li's followed, "I am! It's just that you're trembling so much since you've never experienced another female in your life aside from your mother and our partners." "Well… I can read books too. So what's the difference?" "What's the difference? I've never expected that expression to tempt the fates!"

Yuri looked at her e-mail on her yellow laptop on the Space Age Counter as their new friend Scottie, which is a cute little tin-colored robot that can change into a ball form to travel around at excessively high speeds, danced around brainlessly on the counter. Meiru defined to the boys, that despite him speaking Japanese with a Scottish accent, he is smart, efficient, easy-to-use, easy to get along with, and most definitely adorable. Iwamaru nicknamed Scottie 'Sutaffu no Chikai-kun' ('Short Stuff') since when he's not in ball form he's only the size of a small doll. Li just refers him to 'Aibou-chan'.

As the boys came down, Li was in a white tuxedo. Yuri giggles, "Oh! I wish I was Ichigo-chan." Meiru says as she applauds, "Amazing work, Iwamaru; any girl would go out with a guy dressed like _that_." Iwamaru shrugs, "Thanks, I've gotten that look from out of a book." Li gets flustered, "I thought you're afraid of girls, buddy, how would you know about dating? This could be awkward!" Iwamaru calmly says, "At least I don't have to hear you for the rest of the evening; including you calling me 'buddy'."

Ichigo got through the door, she was dressed in a pink and red ballroom dress. She said with a smile, "I'm ready, Li-kun!" as she placed a red rose on his collar, Li groaned in his thoughts, "_God made the five of them_!" and he was dragged away into the lovely evening by her.

To be continued…

—————

Shared Techniques between the Soulrangers;

Soul Fist; an overly powerful straight punch that can overwhelm a weakened enemy. Its destructive power is determined by the strength of the current soul level of the Soulranger multiplied in tons multiplied by the strength of the actual punch.

Soul Kick; a very powerful roundhouse kick that could defeat an enemy if used more than once. Its destructive power is determined by the strength of the current soul level of the Soulranger multiplied in tons multiplied by the strength of the actual kick.

Soul Jump; a jump that can span cities or almost reach the skies in a single bound. Its measurement of the enlightened jump is determined by the strength of the current soul level of the Soulranger multiplied in kilometers multiplied by the strength of the actual jump.

Soul Dash; at full speed, the Soulranger's running speed is increased by his/her current soul level multiplied by the speed of the original pace multiplied in 16 KPH (10 MPH).

Soul Rise; with a little concentration, the power of the Soulranger goes up.

Soul Change; a Soulranger can change himself/herself into a different version of him/herself. This technique can also be used on certain items/Soul Familiars/etc., the Soulranger can change that item/creature into whatever he/she desires.

Soul Fusion; a Soulranger can fuse with another Soulranger to form into a whole new Soulranger with hidden powers unlocked from within. This technique can also be used on certain items/Soul Familiars/etc., the Soulranger can fuse/combine that item/creature in any way he/she desires.

Soul Extension; Soulrangers can infuse their power into one Soulranger in case of emergencies.

Shared Abilities between the Soulrangers;

Soul Unity; a Soulranger can infuse the power of another soul nearby with his/her own, empowering him/her to a certain extent.

Telepathy; a Soulranger can communicate with another with Soul DNA.

Mind Reading; a Soulranger can read the minds of others with enough concentration.

Animal Abilities; one with Soul DNA can use the same abilities as any creature from the DNA in their systems.

Heightened Senses; a Soulranger has better senses than any other human or other creature.

Short-Range Teleportation; a Soulranger can go from one place to another just by concentrating on the

desired location and touch his/her Soul DNA Mark.


	4. Greedy Emperor & Mysterious Hunter

**Kouyou Sentai Soulranger**

**(Elemental Squadron Soulranger)**

———————

Vessel 4: The Greedy Emperor and the Mysterious Hunter?

———————

It was a regular delivery like any other delivery for Rosuto Li, today he's returning to the Café after delivering a young girl's birthday present to her at school.

On his way to the café, Li parks his motorcycle to take a little break before he could go any further because he's been working all morning… then the sound of an electric guitar got his attention; he got up and turned to find someone he never saw before——

At one of the outdoor tables of a restaurant Li stopped at, a mysterious humanoid figure in black is playing a blue electric guitar shaped like an arrow. He is clad in black leather boots, black denim jeans, a black turtleneck undershirt, black leather gloves, a black leather jacket with large collars and pointed triangular shoulders, hard black cuffs fastened on his lower legs and forearms by black buckles, black elbow pads and kneepads, a silver Star of David pin on the left breast side of his jacket, a blood-red scarf wrapped around his neck, and a black motorcycle helmet on his head concealing his identity.

Strangely, as suspicious as this strange character is, Li sensed something safe about him. Bravely, he walks up to the stranger in black and speaks to him, "Excuse me, but may I ask who you are?"

The mysterious stranger stops playing and turns to look at Li, he then removed the strap carrying the guitar on his body, and made one hand just like a hieroglyph and slowly moves it over his visor as he introduced himself, "The Lone Wolf Amongst All Souls; Black Magic Hunter."

Li was amazed, "Black Magic Hunter?" then puts on a calm face "so your name is going to be a mystery to me until your motives are clear to me." Black Magic Hunter says in the English language, "Nonsense." Li was confused but kept calm, "You seem to be on my side, yet I can also tell that you have absolutely no intention of evil." Black Magic Hunter replies (back in Japanese), "And you are no enemy of this planet and beyond. You may call me 'Hanta-san' (Hunter)."

Li says, "In case you need a delivery, call for Sonic Bird Express and we'll deliver whatever you need in a hurry as soon as possible." As Li turns to leave, Hunter stops him by placing a hand on the young man's shoulder and says, "Wait… I do have a delivery to make——" then he spoke to Li in telepathy, "_Soul Red_."

Li was shocked, "_Are you one of the two missing allies we're looking for_?" Black Magic Hunter says as he lets go, "_Sadly, I am not. But I shall not endanger the lives that you care for deeply._" Li asks, "What would you like for me to deliver?" Hunter reaches into a large brown paper bag in a chair next to him, "Don't worry; it'll be short and the payment will be great." He hands a box of rainbow-colored candy (similar to gummy bears) to Li and a paycheck worth ¥400 million ($3,390,979.99).

Shocked by the hefty price, Li stutters a bit, "Who are these gummy bears for? And at such a high price?" Hunter gathered his things and walked off after answering Li's question; "Yourself, I've been watching you and you have incredible courage." Before disappearing off into the distance and the crowd, he gave one last telepathic message to Li, "_You and I are allies now, against the 7 Deadly Forces. That is the first sign to seal our friendship with one another. Remember to always keep your strength up, look for more deep within, and share it with others. So long, Paladin of Fire._"

The waitress that came to the table that Black Magic Hunter was at earlier said to Li, "He may be mysterious, overly-dressed, and very creepy… but he's a great musician, very cool, kind and generous, and best of all; he's _loaded_." Li went wide-eyed, "_Loaded_?" he became half-nervous and half-impressed about the Black Magic Hunter.

—————

In space, a golden-colored eye/planet-like space colony with an emerald iris appears out of nowhere in a position around Earth as it may be seen as a new smaller moon for the Earth to have… but in truth, this space station is in fact a golden kingdom ruled by an alien emperor.

Underneath the center of the emerald iris, which is really a giant viewing window for checking at Earth down below, a rainbow-and-gold colored sarcophagus sat beneath it and then opened to reveal a very imposing humanoid figure that first stepped out and then positioned himself to sit as the sarcophagus transformed into a throne, in which he sat into.

The figure was human-sized and clad in golden-colored silk-like robes covering golden-colored armor. His helmet is the same color as his garments but crown-like and jagged and a grotesque gargoyle/triceratops-like mask is connected to the helmet completely concealing his true face.

He turns to face a series of black circles encircling his throne and says, "Imperial Court, come forth." The black circles opened to reveal chairs rising out of the ground, with various alien beings from various worlds.

A 10-centimeter-tall (4 inches) green-skinned alien court member dressed in a white bodysuit in one of these chairs took off a pair red-and-blue goggles and says to his fellow members, "Let me tell you something; 3D and interdimensional travel just don't mix for my species." A 6-foot-high white furry alien with sharp teeth next to him says, "Then why the hell did you put them on, Galva-Zard?" a grey-colored humanoid angler fish in a black suit next to Galva-Zard replies, "I wanted him to test them, Zurry-Do; to see what it's like." Zurry-Do groans, "Shut up, Pir-Eelegg!"

The emperor removes his mask and tilts his head back to look at the Earth, "The Planet Earth…" he said quietly, "It's even more beautiful than I've ever imagined." He turns to his subjects, "Loyal subjects of my imperial court, this planet is ours for the taking, but remember; it's mainly mine. You are free to perform any acts of purifying what the puny and insignificant Earthlings failed to purify; their own home."

A black-colored alien with the resemblance of a frog spoke up, "This is outrageous; Midasokka-sama! The people of Earth don't take statements from anyone or even surrender, they are stubborn creatures who would rather die than give up their planet to people like us." Midasokka says, "I find their planet interesting, Boca-Kuro, when we invade… change all the pollutants into space fuel then we'll see if they will see my good side once I make deals with them; their beautiful planet for an endless supply of cash."

A lovely (in every way by human standards on Earth) female alien in a blue bodysuit asks, "And if they should resist and not accept your proposal, Midasokka-sama?" Midasokka looks towards her, revealing his handsome face with locks of blonde hair with cool yet cold yellow eyes, and says to her "then, Chiruki-Ko, they have to buy their planet from them then."

A brown-skinned reptile/canine-like alien named Revor-Arc said, "I'd say we take the planet by force, because they're likely to resist money and see us, and mainly _you_, as a threat to them, Midasokka-sama." A green-skinned sharp-toothed dinosaur-like humanoid nods, "Agreed… call for all the mercenaries you've hired down to Earth!"

Midasokka puts on his mask, "Excuse me? All those mercenaries sent down to Earth? I believe more than one mercenary at a time would be even more than I can handle, besides the Terrans would take this as an invasion; which is why I believe only one would be more like it." He taps the left armrest on his throne and a phone pops out, he picks it up and dials, "Operator Gol-Ai, get me the Imperial Inn."

—————

The Imperial Inn is actually a lot of luxurious cabins for mercenaries from space that Midasokka hires. He makes deals with them and pays them with promise payments they request and they come from various worlds to gain after working for him. He's never worried because money is never a problem for him because he is beyond _filthy rich_.

In one of the cabins, which is more rocky than a cave, a gray rhinoceros-like humanoid with massive muscles and scales (like a crocodile) clad in a green muscle shirt, camouflage pants, fingerless black leather gloves, and thick-soled boots each with a single metal horn protruding upwards from the toe area walked up to the large telephone made for someone his size. Protruding from on top of his nose sat a solitary golden-yellow-colored horn like a regular rhino.

He picks it up and asks, "Yes, Midasokka-sama?" Midasokka's voice answered, "Kaopo Don from Planet Arito, take a battalion of my Imperial Soldiers and you shall have your reward of having a dream paradise planet of your very own." Enlightened, Kaopo Don asks, "What's the mission?" Midasokka replied, "Collect all pollutants and pollution from Earth and turn it into space fuel; convince the planet's people that with their own space money, they can forget about not giving up their planet."

Kaopo Don asks, "Do I get to drain the energy from those who would try to resist?" Midasokka says, "Yes, and if energy-draining is not enough… go ahead and use physical force." Kaopo Don smiles sinisterly, "I've been waiting for a little action."

—————

Back in the Elemental Four Café, Li returned while eating the candy the Black Magic Hunter gave to him. When he came back in, he spotted his boss from Sonic Bird Express, Tsuyoshi, dining on some curry Meiru was cooking.

Li called to her, "Hey, Meiru!" She looked at him and replies "Yeah?" he asks her, "Exactly how long has Kurenai-san been here?" Meiru answers, "About six dishes of chicken curry and white rice ago, he's on his 7th one before you came in." Iwamaru came to Li's boss and asks, "Where does he pack it all?" Li downs the last of the candy in the box and says to the others, "I've been thinking that for years."

Tsuyoshi gets up to his feet, "I'm heading off now, see you later!" as he left through the door, Yuri came in the main café area, with a blue denim jumpsuit, and says, "Okay, the robots, Scottie-chan, and I have done some remodeling and now we've got ourselves a larger dining area but with a magnificent undersea view."

Meiru says, "It's been only a week and a half since we've become Soulrangers and already you've made this place into a running café in less than a day and hotel with a secret laboratory deep underground under Odaiba, then you build the Soul Mecha and Scottie-chan, and in just one night up to the middle of the day, you've already made a dining room for people who would like a beautiful view?" Yuri counts with her fingers, "All with the help of Vaal, Alpha, Beta, Gamma and Scottie-chan, I've also made artificial fantasy genre-based subterranean cavern-like dining room, an artificial volcanic kingdom dining room, and a genuine outdoor café just up there on the top of our own building, just above the four of six hotel flats of ours."

Iwamaru asks, "Why give only the Earth and Fire sides the artificial stuff while Air and Water get the real deal?" Meiru adds in, "And what's with the other two underground chambers?" Yuri explains them too; "One is the café's arcade and the other is its prize shop." Li asks, "Did you go all out and paid for the vending machines too?" Iwamaru and Yuri said in unison, "Vaal suggested it."

Vaal telepathically replied, "_The contractors and bankers who agreed to this place with every detail as long as we get paying customers. They believed we couldn't last four days then became shocked to hear that we're becoming a little more successful_, _especially with the_ very high-_paying customers_."

Yuri noticed the empty box, "Eh? Where on Earth did you get that, senpai?" Li said, "Some mysterious dude in black calling himself the Black Magic Hunter made a short delivery to me and this was the package needing to be delivered." Iwamaru shrugs, "Oh well, most delivery boys don't keep their promises." Li said, "Actually it was to be delivered to _me_; he even paid a _ridiculously_ high price."

Meiru hands Li his café outfit and asks, "How high?" Li shows the check to her, "See for yourself Meiru." Being of a curious mind, Meiru looks at the check and her eyes look ready to bug out, "400 million yen? That's over 30 thousand times more than what your boss usually pays us!" Yuri takes a scanner to the check, "And it's all real." Iwamaru, suspicious of the check, touches the check and replies, "100 percent real and legal. Whoever the Black Magic Hunter is, he's not from our planet but is on our side, and his money is… three whole galaxies worth compared to the wealth of my entire family has."

Li asks, "Are you saying I should just cash it in?" together, his comrades say, "Yes." Li shrugs "Whatever" as he walks off.

—————

After cashing his check into his bank account, Li gets ready for the way back. Due to the traffic in Odaiba and him leaving his motorcycle back at the Café, he thought of a quicker to get back——

He concentrated and then… FLASH! He turned into a regular-sized red-colored housecat with black stripes and a white belly. The garments and belongings that were on him, from when he was in human form, apparently disappeared into a pocket dimension; like his Soul Badge. The only thing that could be described on him as a garment is a bright red collar with a ruby-and-gold mini-Soul Badge tag.

Li knew that the Soulrangers can shapeshift into the creature depending on the gene they have inside of them because Vaal told him of this convenience just last night. He leapt from car roof to car roof on his way to the Café, having the convenient size and dexterity of a housecat gave him the ability to get passed all inconveniences a normal human would have; so in this form getting back to the café would be no problem.

He then notices trouble; he finds someone who looks like he was attacked in the alley, he leaps towards the poor man and finds holes in his clothes that appeared to have been made by a horn of some creature, luckily he was alive but his strength was sapped.

Li took his chances and rubs up against the man, who slowly wakes up and weakly says, "Must warn everyone… alien emperor… wants… the Earth." Li figures it must be another of the Seven Deadly Forces. A police officer comes by the alley, witnesses the poor man on the ground, and picks him up. Li rushes to the Café.

—————

Li made it there, but the others didn't recognize him——

"Yuri, did you allow animals in?" (Iwamaru)

"No, but you've got to admit; it's really cute!" (Yuri)

"I don't know, maybe we should find out what its problem is." (Meiru)

Li remembered that he's still in a housecat form and changes back (just the way he was before turning into a cat), "Guys!" the surprise on their faces was not expected—— "Eh?" Li groans before his explaining, "Oh… Vaal says that we can turn into any creature depending on the specific gene injected into us!" everyone, in reaction, exclaimed, "OH!"

Li explains why he returned, "A man was attacked by some creature with a horn and he also said something about an alien emperor that wants the Earth! I figure this emperor is one of the Seven Deadly Forces." Iwamaru says, "Good reason." Yuri said, "The news on our new TV did says something about a man witnessing a monster that attacked him after he refused to let anyone become followers of his emperor in exchange for our planet." Meiru said, "He said 'no deal' and almost got impaled but still he fainted."

Vaal telepathically says to the Soulrangers, "_Yuri's lab computer detects an unusual life form in Odaiba, just in the 4th Westside District_." Li said, "_Alright, we're on it_." The Soulrangers looked at each other and shout out, "Let's go!"

Together, they shout out, " **Soul Badges**!" their Soul Badges formed into their hands, they placed them over their Soul DNA Marks and shout out, " **Soul Force unlock**…" and presented them forward in their palms, shouting out, " **SOUL HENSHIN**!"

Meiru stood in the middle of an ocean, the she exploded into a humanoid figure of illuminating blue water! A tidal wave came crashing from behind her… as she resurfaced… her body is suited into a blue suit with white gloves and boots! A white-colored belt appeared and had her Soul Badge appear onto it like a belt buckle, with a holster on both sides of the belt. A gentle rain came down on her, creating a blue helmet over her head; the visor is like the fin at the end of a whale's tail. She positioned herself in a water-connected kata, with a beautiful rainbow above the calm sea in the background!

Yuri stood in the calm clear blue sky, and spun like a top and formed a tornado from it! Feathers of all sizes, shapes, and colors came flying from without her; as her small whirlwind died out… her body is suited into a yellow suit with white gloves and boots! A white-colored belt appeared and had her Soul Badge appear onto it like a belt buckle, with a holster on both sides of the belt. Small gusts of wind blew through her hair, creating a yellow helmet over her head; the visor is shaped like a bird in flight. She positioned herself in a wind-connected kata, with a flash of sunlight in the background!

Iwamaru stood in the middle of a rock quarry, before he dissolved into a humanoid figure of brown stone! A landslide of boulders came crashing from behind him… as he resurfaced from the boulders… his body is suited into a green suit with white gloves and boots! A white-colored belt appeared and had his Soul Badge appear onto it like a belt buckle, with a holster on both sides of the belt. Small gusts of wind filled with fresh green leaves blew through his hair, creating a green helmet over his head; the visor is like a bull's face. He positioned herself in an earth-based kata, with a beautiful tree growing to its fullest potential in the background!

Li stood in the middle of an ocean of fire; he exploded into a humanoid figure of red fire! Flame came erupting from around him and within… as the flames calmed down… his body is suited into a green suit with white gloves and boots! A white-colored belt appeared and had his Soul Badge appear onto it like a belt buckle, with a holster on both sides of the belt. A gentle shower of sparks came down on him, creating a red helmet over his head; the visor is like a lion's gaping jaws. He positioned herself in a fire-based kata, with a beautiful display of fireworks popping in the background!

——————

In the 4th Westside District in Odaiba, Kaopo Don was terrorizing a group of middle school students by his own appearance. He said to them, "Just hold still as I collect the lead off of you, kids. Don't worry, you'll be grateful that soon you'll find a better planet than this miserable mud-ball soon." He pointed his gun-like tool at them and was about to pull the trigger when——

The Soulrangers jumped in and kicked Kaopo Don's tool out his hand and blocked him from the young students. He got angry and said, "Who the hell are you?"

Soul Blue performed a back-flip before 'swimmingly' danced on the spot like a dolphin, "The wisdom and force from the pure heart; the soul of the water element, Soul Blue!"

Soul Yellow spins in a pirouette on one toe with her arms outstretched like wings, "The intellect and purity of the tempest of joy; the soul of the air element, Soul Yellow!"

Soul Green slams his fist to the ground and showed off his muscles a bit, "The stability and fertility of the sacred ground; the soul of the earth element, Soul Green!"

Soul Red quickly spins three times, stops, then spreads out his arms like wings, "The strength and power of the holy sun fire and light; the soul of the fire element, Soul Red!"

Together, they shout out in unison, "Together our combined elemental souls create a whole new universe!" Soul Red and Soul Green stood beside each other as Soul Blue stood beside Soul Red and Soul Yellow stood beside Soul Green. Finally, they shout out, "Kouyou Sentai Soulranger!"

Kaopo Don says, "So, you're the piece of resistance from this planet that Midasokka-sama informed me to look out for. What do you say? Shall you be our allies in exchange of this miserable mud-ball that he admires and wants to collect?"

Soul Green scoffs, "What? I'd rather stay here; this _miserable mud-ball_ just happens to be our favorite home, regardless of what mankind accidentally did to it over time." Soul Yellow nods, "There's absolutely no way we'd surrender this blue pearl without a fight."

Kaopo Don says, "I'll deal with you brats later. Imperial Soldiers, attack!" out from the sky came arrowhead-shaped jet-like vehicles zooming overhead while letting loose warriors in armor down on the Soulrangers, who easily dodge the attack so they could see what these foot soldiers would be like when they encounter them——

One half of them are fearsome green-colored humanoid crocodiles that are clad in golden-colored pieces of metal armor. The other half of them are like stereotypical gray-colored aliens but in silver-colored mechanical suits of armor as big as the reptile-like ones. Soul Red says, "_I've seen the two of those alien races in Sonic Bird Express co-worker Takeda Akira's post-sci-fi magazines; the reptiles are Reptilians and the armored grey-heads are Greys._" Soul Green replies, "_Thanks for the info._"

Soul Yellow draws her Soul Stick, sets it on laser gun mode, and says "Since we're facing post-sci-fi freaks, it's only likely that we should use scientific weapons against them!" and types in 990. "Jamming Ray."

Soul Blue follows but sets her Soul Stick on sonic sword mode, and says, "Just hope they don't have force fields!" and types in 88456. "Sonic Frequency 88456" says her Soul Stick sonic sword.

Soul Green shrugs, "What's the point of fighting? Since this Midasokka's space mercenary is just taking away the pollutants and pollution, than life on this planet would be sweeter. So it's not really our problem." Soul Red replies, "It will be our problem if we'd just hand over our only home planet like it was valuable property to him and have nowhere else to go but slavery to him!" Soul Green gasps, "Okay… on second thought, we have to stop him."

Soul Yellow fired her laser gun at the Reptilians, the red-orange rings it fired had no affect them in any way. Soul Red says, "I think the Jamming Ray is for knocking out electronic devices and machines, nothing else. If you want to aim at something electronic, try their headgear." Soul Yellow tries again, but this time at the headgear on a Reptilian's head he went blindly around attacking his allies!

Soul Yellow asks, "How did you figure they're helpless if their headgear are malfunctioning?" Soul Red plows through the confused Reptilians and says, "I just figured that these Reptilians are nothing more than world domination fanatic muscle-heads."

Soul Blue turned the Midasokka's Imperial Reptilian Soldiers into steaks with a few strokes as she passed them. The Greys jumped on Soul Green, outnumbering him and covering him view.

Soul Green knocks them all off of him and says, "The true problem is these Grey guys' strategy." Soul Red says, "Oh yeah, the Greys must be the brains while the Reptilians are brawn." He explained in thoughts to his comrades, "_Akira's annoying speeches are all coming back to me now_." Soul Green exclaimed in his thoughts, "_What galaxy are your co-workers at that delivery company from?_" "_Yeah, that information is becoming_ extremely _useful to us._" Soul Blue followed as she terminated the Greys after Soul Yellow fired her Jamming Ray on the Grey's armor; which started to crackle with electricity-like energies and explode several times.

Soul Green says, "Now let's stop him!"

Kaopo says, "I've never realized that you are incredibly strong!" then he bowed down in an apologetic matter. That left Soul Green, Soul Yellow, and Soul Blue confused, but Soul Red intervened before anything could happen by stepping in front of his comrades.

A massive blast of red energy was shot at Soul Red, causing him to crash into his comrades and have them fall like pins struck by a bowling ball! As Soul Red tried to get up, Kaopo Don pressed his horn against the red Soulranger's chest, suddenly Soul Red's strength diminished quickly until he felt limp before the space mercenary got to his feet again. The other Soulrangers noticed this as they were the only ones, excluding their leader and their horned mercenary, getting to their feet.

Soul Yellow asks, "Red-sempai! Why aren't you getting up?" Soul Red answers, "I've figured out how that guy lost his strength; try to avoid the horn, it can drain energy from whoever's in contact." Soul Blue gasps, "You mean to say that we have to avoid that horn or else he'll drain our strength? Just like you?" Soul Red nods, "That's what I said."

Soul Green scoffs, "Don't worry, we'll just break that horn off!" Kaopo Don chuckles as charges at Soul Green, the mere thrust from impact from the horn sent him flying! After crashing back on the ground, Soul Green asks, "What the hell happened?" Kaopo Don answers, "When my species, from the planet Arito, keep the energy we've absorbed through our horns, we gain super-strength. When we release the energy, it becomes a concentrated blast that can devastate our foes."

Then he pressed his horn down on the fallen Soul Green, drawing in the energy out of him. Soul Green heavily pants out, "My strength… is… leaving… me." Soul Yellow and Soul Blue charged at him, with their Soul Sticks out in Sonic Sword mode! But Kaopo Don's arms were too quick so he used his hands to redirect their free hands onto the tip of his horn, draining their strength too.

All four Soulrangers are sprawled on their backs, lacking so much energy thanks to the space mercenary's horn. Kaopo Don says, "How pathetic, I was expecting someone more of a challenge, not a bunch of brainless weaklings." Soul Red growls out, "Don't let it get to you… savor what strength and energy you have left… he could crush us now that we're out of strength."

Suddenly the sound of a saxophone was heard in the vicinity, following the sound the overpowered group and horned mercenary from outer space found the Black Magic Hunter playing a small saxophone like a master player, with the mouthpiece going in from under the helmet. Next to him is a stuffed brown paper grocery bag, along with a small pile of empty rice ball wrappers, three empty cups that once held instant ramen, and seven empty glass bottles.

Soul Red exclaimed, "Hunter?" Soul Green, Yellow, and Blue ask, "That guy is the Black Magic Hunter?" Soul Red looks at his comrades and nod. Kaopo asks, "Is that guy in black a new guy to oppose me?" Black Magic Hunter stops playing and lays down the sax, he turns to Kaopo and says, "Please, I'm trying to sooth the friction this planet is going under." Kaopo Don says, "Just who do you think you are?"

Black Magic Hunter made one hand just like a hieroglyph and slowly moves it over his visor as he introduced himself, "The Lone Wolf Amongst All Souls; Black Magic Hunter."

Kaopo Don charges in while shouting out, "Never monologue when you're in danger!" The Hunter just grabs Kaopo Don's horn and that stops him, amazingly the black leather-clad stranger has immense strength. "That's a bad idea, pal!" Kaopo Don said to his opponent, "I drain one's energy through my horn!" Hunter asks, "But what's the limit?" Surprisingly, energy is being drawn out from the Black Magic Hunter and into Kaopo Don's horn but the black-clad figure is still standing.

Suddenly, Kaopo Don's grays scales gained a reddish tint and he falls to the ground while Hunter is still well and standing. Kaopo Don groggily asks, "What kind of human are you? I've absorbed so much energy I'm so flushed I can't take on any more energy." Hunter calmly replies, "I've taken a lot of caffeine lately." Kaopo Don growls out, "How dare you mock me!"

Black Magic Hunter says, "I wouldn't release that energy if I were you; wouldn't your lord Midasokka, one of the Seven Deadly Forces, be just upset if your energy powers was the cause of the destruction of one part of this planet?" Kaopo Don realizes, "How right you are! Imperial Soldiers, attack!"

More Imperial Fighters, the arrow-shaped space jets that brought the first group of Imperial Soldiers, showed up from out of the sky and let loose a battalion of Reptilians and Greys before the Black Magic Hunter. Not flinching or showing any signs of emotional motions, the Hunter says, "About a hundred… it looks like perfect exercise."

The BMH goes into a martial arts pose and motions with his hand at the Imperial Soldiers to come and get him, they fell for it and charged at him. Despite each of his Reptilian opponents being armed with multiple missile launchers in their armor and each of his Grey opponents being armed with laser weapons in theirs, the Hunter dodged each attack heading towards him without effort and without a scratch.

When he got down to fighting them, he performed various video game-like moves. The way he was fighting was amazingly something out of a combat-derived video game but effectively powerful against the forces Midasokka owns. Soul Yellow and Soul Red looked at the Black Magic Hunter fight and said, "Amazing." Soul Blue strained out, "He… even overpowered… Kaopo Don's energy-draining ability."

—————

In his Space Empire, Midasokka overlooks the battle on a theatre-sized screen with his royal subjects. Midasokka was hearing everyone in his court saying how amazing the Black Magic Hunter is. He growled and then said, "I've seen those moves on intergalactic television and in video games. He does not interest me at all; it's _so_ last millennium."

—————

Watching Hunter fight, Soul Red said, "We have to help… otherwise, we're no better than we already are… I'll push myself to any limits I haven't tapped into yet and go the distance for my goal!"

Suddenly, Soul Red gets an unusual burst of energy like there's no tomorrow! He gets to his feet as quick as a flash, "_A new power_." Then he remembered Hunter's words the last time they met, '_Remember to always keep your strength up, look for more deep within, and share it with others_.' "_The strength from within_!" he turned to the other Soulrangers and said into their thoughts, "_It's the powers of energy manipulation and energy conversion, I can manipulate any type of energy in any way, so I'm going to transfer all of this new energy to you!_"

A thick cloud-like form of red energy flowed from Soul Red's body and flowed right into the Soulrangers' bodies! Soul Green regains his stance, "My soul feels like it's on fire! I like it!" Soul Yellow says, "Let's rock Kaopo Don's world!" Soul Blue gets to her feet, "With the power of four!" Hunter came by and said, "Plus one!"

The Soul Familiars (Red Lion, Green Bull, Yellow Eagle, & Blue Snake) popped out from the Soul Badges! Blue Snake said, "That energy's made me feeling fiery!" Yellow Eagle says, "Change us into Soul Armaments!" Green Bull says, "And combine us!" Red Lion finishes, "I'm feeling ready for the action!"

Soul Red places his hand over Red Lion. Red Lion levitated and turned into a red ball of light that went straight into Soul Red's wand. FLASH! The glowing red wand turned into a large red lion head-like gauntlet weapon on Soul Red's arm. "Lion Gauntlet!"

Soul Green places his hand over Green Bull's head. Green Bull levitated and turned into a green ball of light that went straight into Soul Green's coin. FLASH! The glowing green coin turned into a large green war-hammer weapon with a bull's head at the pommel of the handle. "Bull Hammer!"

Soul Yellow places her hand over Yellow Eagle's head. Yellow Eagle levitated and turned into a yellow ball of light that went straight into Soul Yellow's sword. FLASH! The glowing yellow sword turned into a medium-sized crossbow with the likeness of an eagle. "Eagle Crossbow!"

Soul Blue places her hand over Blue Snake's head. Blue Snake levitated and turned into a blue ball of light that went straight into Soul Blue's chalice. FLASH! The glowing blue chalice turned into a medium-sized baton weapon with a snake-like head at one end and a triangular spearhead on the other. "Snake Spear!"

Soul Blue places the snake's head of her Snake Spear close to Soul Green's Bull Hammer's bull's ring and it bit onto it. Soul Green and Soul Blue shout in unison, "Soul Chain-Smasher!"

Soul Red places his Lion Gauntlet below the eagle head of Soul Yellow's Eagle Crossbow. Soul Yellow and Soul Red shout in unison, "Soul Cross-Buster!"

Soul Blue held off some of the armored freaks coming at them as Soul Green worked his way to the horned mercenary from space. He heard a pair of telepathic voices speaking in unison to him, "_Swing the hammer around by the lower handle, it can create a vortex attack_." Soul Green does so, creating a cyclone-like blast sending the enemies before him past the stratosphere!

Soul Red fended off half of the oncoming Midasokka soldiers as Soul Yellow fired continuously at the other half surrounding them. The current blasts from the new weapon are dart-sized energy bullets from both animal heads' mouths. The blasts, on impact with the enemies' armor, penetrated through and caused those hit to spark before exploding to their deaths!

As soon as everyone was finished with the soldiers, the Soulrangers regrouped. Soul Green asks, "What the heck was in those gummy bears?" Soul Red shrugs, "They must've been blessed by Black Magic Hunter or something, because I didn't detect anything wrong or evil on them or from him."

Soul Green says, "I'm going to try to break that horn off!" Soul Yellow said, "We can't do that! If he uses that horn to defend and drain energy, he could explode!" Soul Blue said, "That's why we're going to smash that horn off of him from all the way here!"

Soul Green & Blue shout in unison, "**Extending Smash**!" Soul Green threw the Bull Hammer's hammer into the sky, having the Snake Spear's handle extend to an amazing length. He swung it down, bringing the heavy force down on Kaopo Don's horn, easily breaking it off!

Kaopo Don's colors returned to normal but only at the cost of his horn, "My… my beautiful horn is ruined! Brats, I'll make you suffer!"

Soul Yellow said, "That's just the beginning." "Because we're taking back what you stole from us!" finishes Soul Red.

Soul Red & Yellow shout in unison, "**Charged** **Buster**!" the energy built up in the two animal head's mouths of their combined weapon, with Soul Yellow at the trigger with Soul Red holding her ground carefully. She pulled the trigger and released a phoenix-shaped blast of yellow-colored energy and a dragon-shaped blast of red-colored energy from the barrels, resulting in an equally powerful attack. This attack destroyed the fallen horn and sent the weakened Kaopo flying!

The Soulrangers got together approximately 30 feet away from but in front of the space mercenary! A large cloud of energy flowed from the battlefield and fueled in various places and people; the energy absorbed by Kaopo Don is returning to its original and individual sources.

The Black Magic Hunter leaped up to the top the nearest building, along with a grocery bag in hand, and said, "Finish this fiend off, paladins of the elemental souls."

Soul Red felt some strong force from within himself, "Combine the Armaments; something tells me this will make sure that this space mercenary will learn to never mess with us!" The others nod, "Right!"

The Soulrangers placed the Soul Chain-Smasher underneath the Soul Cross-Buster, having all four of the animal heads facing the same direction. Soul Red held the weapon up in one hand as he and his comrades shout in unison, "Soul Totem Cannon!"

Kaopo Don was shocked to witness his appending doom, "No, wait! Please­­——"

The Soulrangers shout out "**Soul Force Burst**!" as Soul Red pulled the trigger and the four animal head blaster barrels shot four colored energy blasts that soon fused into an illuminating blast of even greater energy at the enemy and destroyed him in a fiery explosion!

The Soul Totem Cannon then flashed and changed back into the four Soul Familiars and four Soul Mediums!

Together, they exclaim in unison, "The constellation of triumph shines!"

—————

Midasokka's eyes widened with excitement, "Now _there_ is something to gain my interest; those colored fighters and their magnificent powers!" Chiruki-Ko said, "They are called the Kouyou Sentai Soulranger. According to my research, they are in Odaiba where they first appeared in the first place. They are patrol of the 7 Deadly Forces, seven non-allied groups that are rumored to be a threat to the planet, Earth, in seven different ways. Four of them have been identified to this planet and the Soulrangers."

Midasokka smiles and shouts out, "_This_ is just the excitement I need!" Galva-Zard said, "They appear to know about just Keia and Kyamio, little do most of them suspect that you are one of them, my lord." Midasokka growls, "So… 6 other guys want to rule the universe aside from me." Then he relaxes with a bright smile, "Maybe we can learn to work together; mainly for me and my kingdom to have the Soulrangers' powers and to find out their secrets."

Most of his court got the idea. Gorix-Ju says, "Everyone with almost god-like abilities. I love it, my lord!" everyone else agreed to that. Midasokka smiles, "That's more like it, my loyal subjects!" then the entire courtroom grew into a blizzard of malevolent laughter!

—————

Back at the Elemental Four Café, the Soulrangers celebrate for their latest victory in their own ways, while out of Soulranger form——

Li began cooking dinner for his team, Iwamaru acted like a boxer ready for another challenge, Yuri does a couple of cartwheels in a circle around the main café area, and Meiru danced around happily. Even though they knew their battle against the 7 Deadly Forces isn't over yet, they are happy to know that they are getting stronger quickly.

Vaal was sleeping due from the stress he got after watching the Soulrangers' battle, earlier Meiru said he went out cold and it turned into sleep just before BMH appeared within the battle, while the robots helped out in their own way.

That night, they gained a new visitor: the Black Magic Hunter himself!

Li was surprised, "Oh! I'm sorry, Black Magic Hunter sir, we're closing tonight." Black Magic Hunter opened his visor and ate the hamburger he had in his other hand (wrapper and all), without showing his face, and closed it again as he spoke, "I'm just here to congratulate you and give you four a small token of my appreciation, my congratulations, and my friendship."

Yuri steps up, excitedly, "Money?" Hunter hands her a check worth 500 million ¥ (almost 5 million in American dollars), "Aside from that, young lady." Underneath his arm was a grocery bag, he reached into it and pulled out a bottle of beer, a bottle of orange juice, a bottle of Coca-Cola, and a bottle of coffee milk. He explained, "The gummy bears had no blessing or anything of the sort, it was just a seal of friendship between us for we are allies against seven different foes and some others."

Meiru asks, "There are others?" Hunter says, "In truth, I am just like the four of you; a paladin defending what's right. About forces of evil other than the 7 Deadly Forces, most of them are excessively low-leveled and not to be worried about and there are a very few you don't have to worry about just yet. You'll be seeing me around more often; either probably playing music, eating, or doing other good deeds."

Meiru smiles, "You are a master musician, an explorer, a crime fighter, a skilled martial artist, a technique copycat master, a generous secret billionaire, a gourmet, and a philanthropist all in one within that black leather." "Why thank you." replies Black Magic Hunter.

Li asks, "Are those drinks for us?" Hunter nods, "Yes, so go ahead and take them."

Iwamaru takes the beer, "I'll take the beer; the three of you are too young."

Meiru takes the orange juice, "I've had a lot of milk in my childhood to make my bones grow strong, but it had another affect on me. So I'll have the orange juice."

Li shrugs, "Coca-Cola sounds okay with me. After all, I'm going to need my caffeine and energy."

Yuri takes the coffee milk, "Me too, especially since I plan to get working tonight. Plus the calcium will give my bones a boost."

Black Magic Hunter turns and says, "Until the next time, paladins of the elemental souls." Then he walked out the door.

Li says, "Well… let's open up the bottles and call it 'cheers'." The others nod.

"KANPAI!"

To be continued…


End file.
